Only one point separated Premier League champions Manchester City and second-placed Liverpool. Third-placed Chelsea finished with 74 points, a yawning 18-point gap with Juergen Klopp’s side.
The final standings of the 2021-22 Premier League season, which came to an end on Sunday, show that the top two are dictating terms in England. For others, even for giants such as Manchester United, it is just playing catch-up.
This was City’s fourth league title in five seasons, the 2019-20 was won by Liverpool after 30 years, underlining the domination of Pep Guardiola’s men.
The Spaniard may not yet have managed to decipher the Champions League code with City but when it comes to the league he has been very successful. And in Klopp he has found the perfect ally. Both push each other to the limits, bringing out the best.
The Premier League has always been the hegemony of the top clubs barring an odd Blackburn Rovers or a Leicester. In the early days it used to be Alex Ferguson and Manchester United with Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal coming in between.
Then with Roman Abramovich’s takeover of Chelsea, the third force started flexing its muscle. City were just the “noisy neighbours” and Liverpool were pushed down the pecking order. Still they were not as rudderless as their rivals are now.
The dynamics have clearly changed. Guardiola and Klopp have made arguably the most competitive league in the world a battle of their own. Their two clashes this season were mind blowing and justifiably ended 2-2 on both occasions.
On Sunday, it was natural that each heaped praise on the other. “Our rivals, I have never seen a team like Liverpool in my life,” Guardiola said. “I know it’s tough, but big congratulations. They helped us to be a better team, season by season.”
Klopp reciprocated. “Congratulations to Man City and Pep Guardiola.”
The money Guardiola has at his disposal makes it all the more difficult for the rivals. Since his arrival in 2016, Pep has splashed more than 1.5 billion euros (including latest acquisition Erling Haaland) on signings. Klopp, on the other hand, after the initial splurging on Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, has used his funds judiciously.
The tables began to turn from 2017-18. From that season, City and Liverpool zoomed past their rivals, raking up points at will. City logged 93, 86, 81, 98 and 100, while Liverpool took home 92, 69 (in 2020-21 an injury-ravaged Liverpool finished third), 99, 97, and 75.
That Liverpool finished runners-up twice despite earning 92 and 97 points is something unprecedented in the Premier League before the German-Spanish duopoly started.
One saw such numbers in Spain. Barcelona 99 and Real Madrid 96 in 2010; Barcelona 91, one ahead of their arch-rivals in 2016, Madrid 93 with Barcelona falling behind by just three points a year later.
As former Tottenham and Man United player Dimitar Berbatov said recently: “At the moment, the truth is City and Liverpool are the top tier in the way they play football and every team should try and catch up with them.”
Truly the domination of City and Liverpool is here to stay. But is it good for the Premier League? Not really, if it wants to keep advertising itself as the most competitive league in the world.
