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Richard Sutcliffe: Raising of standards provides exceptional level of excitement
IS this the best Premier League yet?
As the top flight takes a break for the resumption of the World Cup qualifiers, it is a question worth posing after yet another dramatic weekend of action at both ends of the table.
Liverpool's demolition of Aston Villa together with Manchester United's second defeat in as many games has breathed new life into a title race that, just a fortnight ago, looked to be a formality.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side are still favourites and rightly so as they have, or had been the very epitome of consistency this year, but the manner of Liverpool's displays when dispatching both United and Villa has certainly given everyone at Old Trafford food for thought.
Chelsea cannot, even after Saturday's defeat at Tottenham Hotspur, bee discounted and everything points to the title race going to right to the last game of the season on May 24.
At the other end of the table, the battle to avoid relegation promises to be equally hard fought and, if at all possible, even more dramatic.
The concertina effect that sees just seven points separate the sides sitting in 12th and 19th place means anyone from Bolton Wanderers and below could conceivably go down.
Now, the Premier League has had plenty of close finishes at the top and bottom of the table since its inception in 1992. The destiny of the title has been in doubt going into the last day several times, while the Championship is littered with sides who went down in the cruellest of manners at the death.
But what makes this season so special is that the raising of standards has not been restricted to just the top teams with the vast majority of clubs having also made significant strides this season.
The theories behind this general raising of standards right across the league vary depending on who you speak to but one major factor has to be the increased money that has come the way of the lesser clubs since the current television deal started last season. As money seems to talk even more in football than any other walk of life, the upshot of this increased spending power has been clubs such as Wigan and Fulham being able to attract better players despite their average crowd hovering around the upper teens in thousands.
This has helped contribute to a new trend in this season's Premier League – even teams embroiled in the relegation battle have become a major nuisance to the 'Big Four'.
Hull City's penchant for upsetting the big boys on their own patch is well documented, but they are by no means on their own in this respect.
Stoke City, for instance, have humbled Arsenal at the Britannia and taken a point off Liverpool at Anfield, while Newcastle have claimed draws at Chelsea and Manchester United and Sunderland have twice taken points off the Gunners.
It means that, unlike previous seasons, the clubs with the biggest resources and squads are not necessarily having it their own way and long may this continue.
English football is on the up at the moment, as illustrated by four Premier League sides having made it through to the Champions League quarter-finals yet again.
But what is perhaps the most pleasing aspect of what is shaping up to be the most dramatic of finales at both the top and bottom of the table is that no other to- flight division in Europe can make such a promise.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
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Sunny spells
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