The English Premier League heads into another summer with Manchester City as its reigning champion, and, despite challenges to the hierarchy, a table that for the fourth time in the last six seasons has, in some order, the richest clubs in the league (according to the Deloitte Money League) as its top six.
The hierarchy will be challenged next season, though, with a number of clubs threatening to break into (or break back into) the top tier, notably a Newcastle side that’s entering its first offseason backed by its new Saudi billions. And beyond that, with a World Cup that’s smack in the middle of the season potentially yielding a snowball effect—both physically and psychologically—on dozens of the Premier League’s finest players, there stand to be a few more variables for managers to take into account. It’s one thing to have teams competing on four fronts—league, domestic cups, European cup—over the course of the season, but the monthlong strain on players in Qatar will be another hurdle for clubs and one that will shine a light on squad depth throughout the league—and perhaps offer somewhat of an advantage for those not fortunate enough to be blessed by a reliance on world-class talent.
As it relates to the Big Six, though, there are significant questions facing each club, ones that will determine where in the pecking order they’ll fall at this time next year—and if they’ll even remain in that top tier at all.
