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Is the Premier League losing competitive balance?

Cardiff City lost 4-1 at Liverpool on Saturday. That was not perhaps a surprise, but Burnley losing 0-4 at home to Chelsea was. Last season this would have been a much more competitive game. Burnley may have specific problems because of their Europa League participation, but there is a more general issue, taken up by Oliver Kay in The Times on Saturday where he suggested that the Premier League is losing competitive balance as the top six reach new heights.

Before Saturday, of 40 matches so far this season between the 'top six' and the rest, the big teams had won 34, lost three and drawn three. The picture would be even more lopsided if it was not for the early season troubles of Manchester United: they are responsible for two of the draws and one of the losses. On Sunday they managed to beat Everton, one of the clubs with top six ambitions.

The top six have collected an average of 2.38 points per game. The comparable figure in the Bundesliga is 2.08 points. The same clubs have been in the top six for three of the last four seasons. After a relatively poor 2017-18 season, Arsenal still finished nine points ahead of seventh placed Burnley, easily the best of the rest.

Does it matter? One sided matches are less interesting. If your team is winning 4-0, you don't get as excited about another goal as you did about the first. Admittedly, the increasingly important global television audience is really only interested in the top teams (they may be the only teams they have heard of).

If the top clubs are, to quote Sean Dyche, 'super power' clubs perhaps the logical outcome is a European super league. One would then have a genuinely competitive domestic competition while Manchester City would get to play Real Madrid twice a year.

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