The challenge to the top three has enlivened the season – but their positive goal difference suggests the gap remains glaring
On the face of it, a little over a third of the way through, this feels like a pretty good Premier League season – at least from a football point of view. There is the possibility of a three-way title fight. The only side that look as though they could be cut adrift have just been taken over by owners who can be expected to spend heavily in January. There are intriguing stories everywhere, from Manchester United’s struggles to the returns of Antonio Conte, Steven Gerrard and Patrick Vieira.
The arrival of Ralf Rangnick at Old Trafford adds to the richness of the mix, the sense that the Premier League is the home of the world’s most tactically advanced football. Not only does the Premier League have coaches of the proven quality of Pep Guardiola, Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel, but also now, along with Marcelo Bielsa, two of the great theorists who have shaped so much of how modern football is played.
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