Just five years ago the Premier League was accused of becoming stale, made predictable by the dominance of a supposed ‘Top Four’. Each and every year the Premier League would be made up of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and the rest. And as these four clubs monopolised the lucrative Champions League places this saw the gap between the top four and the rest ever widening.
Yet today, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal seemingly battling over fourth place, what’s happened? How has the fall from superiority happened for these clubs and what can they do to be challenging at the very top of the table once again?
Chelsea last won the Premier League in 2010 under Carlo Ancelotti, not exactly a life time ago. Roman Abramovich’s millions helped make them Premier League Champions for the first time in 2005 and they have been dining at the top table ever since. But despite the help that their wealthy Russian owner has undoubtedly given, his trigger happy approach to hiring and firing managers has been seen as a major stumbling block in the clubs progression.
Up until this season, Claudio Ranieri, José Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luis Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and most recently Ancelotti had all worked under Abramovich at Chelsea. And with the revolving door policy of management not bearing fruit, a change in direction was called for this summer.
A long term solution was needed so, with youth on his side, Porto’s Andre Villas Boas was given the job of steering Chelsea into the future. Overseeing the change from the old guard (the likes of Lampard, Terry and Drogba) to a new, hungry, title winning side.
Fast forward to this week and Villas Boas is feeling the pressure. A poor season by Abramovich standards sees Chelsea in 5th place, and clinging on to progress in the Champions League against Napoli by a thread. Villas Boas’ position already looks uncertain. Less than one year into the ‘five year plan’.
Chelsea have the right idea in planning for the future, ignoring short term gain in favour of the bigger picture. But what if Roman has chosen badly and Villas Boas isn’t the man to lead Chelsea into the future? Chelsea are faced with a tough decision, give Villas Boas time to build a side, or accept that a change needs to be made now and start again, potentially leaving the same problem in a year’s time. Getting this right could be decisive in Chelsea challenging for major honours again.
It has long been said that stability is vital to the development of any football club. But with that in mind, what of Arsène Wenger and his 16 years in charge of Arsenal? Wenger’s spell in charge of the Gunners will be looked back on as a hugely successful one, where he has guided them to numerous trophies, including three Premier League titles. But with the last of those titles coming in 2004 that doesn’t really paint an accurate picture of the team today.
The financial situation at Arsenal and how much the cost of their new stadium has limited their expenditure is a bit of a grey area. Has Wenger opted to rely so heavily on youth or has the money simply not been there for him to spend? Huge profits have been made on established first team players such as Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Touré and many others.
However, very little of it has been invested back into the squad. Even at the beginning of this season (when it was popular opinion that Arsenal needed to strengthen in order to compete) Arsenal made a substantial £17million profit in the transfer market. The purchases of Gervinho, Arteta and Mertesacker more than being offset by the sales of Fàbregas, Eboué, Nasri and Clichy. One step forward, two steps back?
Like Chelsea, Arsenal now find themselves approaching a turning point. This summer, will Wenger be backed to build a team around the talents of Robin Van Persie? Or will Van Persie become yet another player sold at a huge profit?
Arsenal’s lack of trophies has been used as a stick with which to beat Wenger. Liverpool this weekend joined Birmingham and Portsmouth on the list of clubs who have won something more recently than the gunners. Many have speculated that the Carling Cup win could signify an upturn in the fortunes of Liverpool FC.
However, despite being part of that dominant top four, Liverpool's fall from grace has been more drawn out. When Liverpool won their 18th (and most recent) league title in 1990 it would be hard to imagine that rivals Manchester United would overtake them as the most successful English League club, United now having 19 titles to Liverpool’s 18.
Certainly 22 years lacking league success is not changed through a quick fix. But Liverpool seem to have a manager they are happy with and a board who are willing to back him. Surely this is all they need to challenge again in the near future?
Interestingly Liverpool are the only of these three clubs not currently labelled as ‘in crisis’. But in truth none of these causes are lost. With the right decisions made by the men who matter any of these clubs could challenge for the Premier League title once again.
Manchester City currently sit top of the league. With the resources they have it is hard to imagine Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or anyone else catching them. Their place seems pretty secure for a long time to come. But then again, we said that about the impenetrable Top Four as well.