Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal. Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal. United 3-1 Chelsea. QPR 1-0 Chelsea. United 1-6 Manchester City. Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal. Chelsea 2-1 City. United 2-3 Blackburn. Chelsea 1-3 Aston Villa. Sunderland 1-0 City. Fulham 2-1 Arsenal. Newcastle 3-0 United.
Almost any fan of the Premier League will agree that this season has been the most exciting for some time, with unexpected results and thrilling games coming each and every week.
So why is it so boring?
Despite all the shocks, almost everyone is where you would have expected them to be before a ball was kicked. Man City have the best squad in the league and are consequently three points ahead of United, who are well-led as always by Sir Alex Ferguson but are just missing a little quality. Tottenham have strengthened and are making a concerted push for the Champions League, whilst Chelsea are struggling to cope with an ageing squad and Arsenal have continued their downward trajectory. Liverpool spent £18 million on Stewart Downing and are consequently sixth.
At the bottom, the only real surprise is Bolton, who have been atrocious. Otherwise, Wigan are always in the relegation zone at this time of year and Blackburn, despite more than one astonishing win, have been as bad as, if not worse than, they were in the second half of last season. Promoted QPR enjoyed a good start but have trailed off and fired their manager in a bid to avoid plummeting back down into the Championship.
That only one of the three in the relegation zone is an unexpected candidate is especially odd because there have been so many really poor teams in the current campaign. Sunderland, pre-Martin O’Neill, were simply awful, and put in the worst performance I’ve seen in person this season when they came to Carrow Road – yes, worse than Blackburn. Aston Villa, victory at Stamford Bridge aside, have been limp and toothless, and would be right in the mix to go down in almost any other year gone by. Yet they are seven points clear in 13th.
For all the twists and turns in the Premier League this season, there are only three surprises for my money: Newcastle, Norwich and the aforementioned Bolton.
Some may see this as exactly what we should want from a season – unpredictable results but a final table that sees the best teams finish where they deserve. Maybe that’s true. But for me, true excitement comes from seeing something unexpected really upsetting the apple cart.
Newcastle’s prolonged stay in the top four at the start of the season was fantastic but couldn’t have lasted. If Chelsea’s difficult transitional year results in them slipping out of the Champions League, that will also be really fascinating from a neutral point of view. But there is no fun in the sense of inevitability – no matter how hard you shake the Premier League, it feels, the pieces will land in exactly the same pattern.
Posted by George Ankers 
