If you listen to some supporters and media, this is one of the lowest-quality Premier League seasons in its 33 years. Those people would be completely wrong.
This is a Premier League that has five teams in the quarter-finals of European competitions and has already secured an extra spot in next season’s Champions League courtesy of English team’s performances in Europe.
The second-placed Premier League side, Arsenal, are currently 3-0 up on aggregate against Real Madrid. The teams sitting 14th and 15th in the Premier League, Manchester United and Tottenham, are level in their respective quarter-final ties in the Europa League.
Chelsea, who have won just four of their last 10 Premier League games, are odds-on favourites to win the Conference League.
Liverpool, who were unfortunate to be drawn to play Paris Saint-Germain, are out of Europe after losing only on penalties. They have 76 points after 32 games, which is more than champions Man United had in 1997 after 38 games.
Liverpool are on course to become the fifth-best Premier League team ever
Arne Slot’s side could still finish the campaign with 94 points, a points total that has only been bettered four times in the Premier League’s history, twice by Manchester City and twice by Liverpool (one of them, 97 points had them in second place).
So the champions to be could, statistically, be the fifth 'best' team the league has ever seen, having lost just twice and led the league since November 2nd.
Of course, having been in the driving seat for so long means there has been a lack of jeopardy or excitement for both Liverpool supporters and neutral fans, but that shouldn’t take away from the achievements of the Anfield side in what is, let’s remember, Slot’s first season in England.
Slot’s side beat West Ham, who arrived in 16th place and ended the day just above the relegation zone, with the 17th-placed Wolves having recorded their fourth consecutive league win at the same time.
"They [West Ham] also have players and that's what makes the Premier League so strong this season,” pointed out Slot post-match. “I think they are 16 or 17th in the league but I can name you one or two players that could have easily played with us today in terms of quality. That is what the Premier League is about.”
That Man United and Tottenham sit below the likes of Fulham, Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford and Crystal Palace is a credit to those clubs and underlines the quality within the wider Premier League.
Those five, plus Nottingham Forest, have exceeded expectations this season, but they all have players who are capable of playing for traditional ‘big six’ clubs (of course, some will likely make such moves this summer).
Slot name-checked Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta from the Hammers, two players who ensured Liverpool didn’t have it all their own way and were made to work for a vital 2-1 win thanks to campaign Virgil van Dijk's late header.
“We all know that even the team who is in 16th at the moment has very good players, but the top eight all have incredible players,” added Slot.
The day before, Palace had been 2-0 and almost 3-0 up at Man City before an offside flag proved a turning point for the reigning champions to turn things around and run out 5-2 winners.
“These are the margins that are in the Premier League, which makes it such a hard league to play in but also why it's so popular," assessed Slot.
Of course, the bottom three being populated by the promoted three clubs again only adds to further underline the strength of the league; it’s becoming more difficult for the teams who come up from the Championship to survive, such is the quality in the league.
This might not be the best, by whatever definition, team to win the league, and it isn’t the most exciting, but quite clearly the quality of the Premier League is not poor.
Liverpool will win what is one of the highest-quality Premier League seasons. "We will make this team very strong next season," said Slot this week, and they'll need to be because the Premier League is only getting stronger.
