Manchester City 2017/18 Premier League champions and I must say congratulations to them after they became the first team to have won the title in November. I may be six months ahead of myself but come on now let’s be honest the trophy is going nowhere else than The Etihad is it.
It’s now not a case of whether Manchester City will win the title or not but whether or not they can be the second team in Premier League history to go a season unbeaten and become invincible. Forget the fact that Preston North End achieved this in the 1888-89 campaign, we all know that football was officially invented in 1992 so that one does not actually count.
So with Pep Guardiola using the editor on Football Manager to bring glory to the blue half of Manchester and potentially making this the most boring title race in years it is time to think outside the box. Forget focus groups and fan feedback the only person you need to ask for an idea is me.
What is that idea I here you cry, well quite simply it is this. Why don’t we pretend that Manchester City are not in the Premier League this season and it only includes 19 teams, that way we have a real title race on our hands. Any of the big five as it now stands could win the competition in what could be a battle to the very last day of the season.
Picture the scene if you will, let’s pretend it is like Formula 1 and Lewis Hamilton is miles in front at the British Grand Prix. Now if the race director for Sky Sports had any sense he would not bother showing the recent World Champion just going round in circles unchallenged he would focus the camera’s attention in a much closer battle.
Or perhaps it could be Boxing, Tony Bellew is known as the WBC’s Emeritus Champions which in layman’s terms means he can call in a title shot for the Crusierweight belt at any time he wants while he goes off and fights at Heavyweight instead.
This means life in the Cruiserweight division still goes on as normal but it does so without it’s recognised champion and this is exactly the role that Manchester City could play in the Premier League this season. Look we all know they’ve won the thing so instead of dragging out until May why don’t we try something different.
A competition that has always looked to be at the forefront of innovation could live up to that self appointed mantle if the top flight had 19 competing teams for the remainder of the season. You only have to look at the table going into this weekend’s fixtures to know we have a real title race on our hands.
There are just four points seperating the top six, do you know what let’s call them the ‘Big Six’ welcome to the club Burnley, whose cabal of Galacticos have broken the glass ceiling and are in with a real shout of going all the way and emulating the success of Leicester back in 2016.
And with Liverpool hosting Chelsea on Saturday evening neither team can afford to drop any points if they want to keep on the coat tails of current league leaders Manchester United who themselves are undoubtedly boosted by the returns of both Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic from injury.
Tottenham may well feel this is finally their time to win the title with one less team in it as they currently sit third in the table but they will need to bounce back from defeat against Arsenal last weekend. They play host to a West Brom side who are led by Gary Megson. (I cannot see how that is any better than Tony Pulis).
Oh and shouldn’t Everton have hired a new manager by now?
Until next week.