Blame Antonio Conte, perhaps. The former Chelsea manager was not the pioneer but he was a trailblazer. When the 2016-17 Premier League brought together one of the greatest collections of managerial talents to compete in a domestic division at the same time – Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino and the defending champion Claudio Ranieri – Conte responded by raising the bar.
Chelsea’s path to the title involved a run of 13 straight wins and an eventual total of 93 points. They were trendsetters. The next seven Premier League titles were won with 100, 98, 99, 86, 93, 89 and 91 points respectively. As the more mathematically minded will note, only two of those numbers are below 90. Each came with an asterisk: Manchester City’s 86 in the strangeness of the 2020-21 Covid season and 89 in 2022-23, when they had 88 after 36 games, with the title secured, and relaxed to concentrate on the treble instead.
