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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Barney Ronay

Never mind the quality, feel the money: central flaw of football’s ‘greatest show on earth’

(Left to right) Arsenal's Martin Ødegaard, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, Southampton's Aaron Ramsdale and Leicester City's Jamie Vardy.
Part of the Premier League’s key storylines this season are (left to right): Arsenal's Martin Ødegaard, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, Southampton's Aaron Ramsdale and Leicester City's Jamie Vardy. Composite: Guardian pictures

Ladies and gentlemen we have now reached our cruising altitude. The pilot will be putting his feet up and drinking tiny cans of Sprite from here to the middle of May. Sit back, zone out. Stick on a bad film with Seth Rogen in it. You can even watch the football if you like. Just don’t expect much to happen for the next three months.

So much for that excitingly bumpy, turbulence-fuelled Premier League season, all perky upstarts, crumbling certainties and unexpected shifts of altitude, which really did seem to be shaping up just a few short weeks ago. As of game weekend 26 and Arsenal’s defeat against West Ham, followed by Liverpool strolling through Manchester City, the league has reached a stage of premature entropy.

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