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Race On For Next Premiership Season
Next Season’s Premier League Race Could Be the Most Competitive in History
James Goyder
Manchester United's title winning celebrations might still be going strong but the other teams in the upper echelons of the Premier League are already starting to cast their eyes towards next season.
It is an indisputable fact that the best team always wins the league but even Sir Alex Ferguson would acknowledge that his team's rivals have all had to endure disappointing campaigns.
Arsenal and Chelsea have been inexplicably inconsistent, periodically playing like champions but ultimately dropping out of contention due to some decidedly mediocre results.
Liverpool, whose record of 19 league titles Ferguson's side recently broke, started the season so slowly that Roy Hodgson was sacked and even a late run of form under replacement Kenny Dalglish might not be enough to guarantee a spot in the Europa League, let alone a title challenge.
Manchester City are improving rapidly but the goal this season was always a top four finish and from a tactical perspective Roberto Mancini never seemed like a manager who believed his side were in with a chance of winning the main prize.
Tottenham's first ever foray into the Champions League effectively put paid to any chance of a title challenge as the latest club to emerge as possible Premier League contenders struggled to cope with the increased frequency of fixtures.
Finishing first in the top tier of English football will never be an easy task and Manchester United deserve massive credit for their accomplishment, particularly as they have also performed well in both the FA Cup and the Champions League.
The 2011/12 Premier League title race is likely to be a little more competitive though. Liverpool have finished the season in spectacular form and, if they can carry this momentum into the next campaign, a 19th league title remains a realistic aspiration.
Like Liverpool, Tottenham will not be distracted by a Champion’s League campaign next season and Harry Redknapp’s side are probably only a goalscoring striker away from a genuine league title challenge. If they can hang onto key players such as Luka Modric and Gareth Bale and add to their attacking options then this could be a team which is ready to become only the fifth ever winner of the Premier League. The race to be the next to join the elite group of clubs to have lifted the prestigious trophy, which currently consists of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers, looks to be between Manchester City and Tottenham with the former the favourites.
If anyone is going to break the recent monopoly which Manchester United and Chelsea have had on the Premier League it is likely to be big spending Manchester City. They have a budget which is limited only by the impending financial fair play regulations and are likely to splash the cash yet again this summer. Whatever the comings and goings at the City of Manchester stadium Mancini will expect to have the best squad in Europe at his disposal by the time the next transfer window closes.
The coming pre-season could prove decisive for Chelsea and Arsenal who are both enduring traumatic transitions. For Chelsea the challenge is to build a team around record signing Fernando Torres and it seems unlikely that the services of manager Carlo Ancelotti will be retained.
Arsene Wenger's position as Arsenal manager is not quite under threat but, after another season which promised so much yet emphatically failed to deliver, the clock is definitely clicking. Fans would like to see a radical overhaul of a squad which has repeatedly displayed worrying levels of weakness. As Arsenal are fond of reminding people the club is in excellent financial shape and with a successful Premier League season long overdue Wenger might bow to supporters demands and embark upon a long awaited spending spree.
Ferguson is once again faced with the challenge of revitalizing an ageing Manchester United squad but pundits were questioning whether the current crop of players could be competitive before the start of this season so he is unlikely to panic.
Edwin Van Der Sar will definitely retire and Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs could conceivably decide to follow in his footsteps, which would leave the squad in urgent need of replenishment. Gary Neville also decided to hang up his boots midway through the current campaign.
As reigning champion's Manchester United will almost certainly be favourites to retain their title come August but for arguably the first time in Premier League history the winner could be any club from a group of six.
© James Goyder & Soccerphile.com
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