Old top four are feeling the pinch

SOCCER ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Manchester Utd v Wolves:AT A time when British politicians are re-igniting "class war" and the gulf between rich and poor seems to be ever widening, Premier League football is facing an unexpected outbreak of egalitarianism. "The old top four – Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool – have lost their aura of invincibility," says Frank Clark, the vice-chairman of the League Managers Association and former Manchester City and Nottingham Forest manager. "Other clubs are less in awe of them."

Midway through a season in which Liverpool are threatening to slide into mid-table and even Arsenal fans are nervous about Champions League qualification despite Sunday’s win at Anfield, Clark is engrossed. “The Premier League’s become much more exciting and dramatic but change was inevitable,” he says. “Things don’t stay the same, nothing goes on forever and we’ve had the same top four for quite a while.”

Indeed Kevin Keegan’s assertion, made just 19 months ago when he was still in charge at Newcastle United, that the top four’s omnipotence had made England’s elite division “boring” is increasingly being debunked.

While Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur all possess the wherewithal to break into the charmed leading quartet, even comparatively inconsistent mid-table sides such as Sunderland have proved capable of beating Arsenal and Liverpool and drawing at Manchester United.

Clark suggests homegrown coaches have now evolved to the point where they are no longer routinely tactically out-witted or psychologically overawed by the like of Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez. “I’m delighted to see British managers, people like Mark Hughes, Martin O’Neill and Harry Redknapp, doing so well this season,” he said.

“I think they, and others, are all being a bit braver when they play the top four now, their gameplans look bolder than sometimes in the past.” As Bob Dylan once said “money doesn’t talk, it swears”, and the black gold pouring forth from Abu Dhabi’s oilfields promises to alter the topography of English football.

Alan Switzer, of the sports business group at Deloitte, sees the top four evolving into a “fluid top six” with teams sometimes spending alternate seasons in the Champions and Europa Leagues.

“Manchester City’s owners in Abu Dhabi have made it very clear they are here for the long haul and intend City to challenge at the top,” said Switzer. “Aston Villa are benefiting from the stability and steady, ongoing investment provided by Randy Lerner’s ownership and Tottenham should start doing even better when they move to a new ground and start maximising their revenue.”

Liverpool’s cause is hindered by the postponement of their long vaunted relocation to a new stadium. “I don’t think there’s any danger of Liverpool turning into the ‘new Leeds’ but, until their new ground is finally built and revenues from it maximised, it will be harder for them to compete at the very top,” said Switzer.

It does not help that the gargantuan debt burdens imposed on Liverpool and Manchester United by their respective American owners prevented Benitez and Alex Ferguson spending in the transfer market as Real Madrid and City did last summer.

Ferguson’s attendant inability adequately to replace Cristiano Ronaldo and Benitez’s lack of a natural successor to Xabi Alonso have consequently left their teams weaker than last season.

If Chelsea remain most people’s favourites for the title no one is quite sure what impact the loss of Didier Drogba and Michael Essien to January’s African Cup of Nations will have on Ancelotti’s team.

“I think Chelsea might be a bit worried about the Nations Cup,” said Peter Taylor, the former England under-21 coach. “And, of course, Villa, City and Spurs don’t have the demands and distractions of playing in Europe. It’s going to be a fascinating second half of the season.”

Tonight Ferguson will take charge of his 900th league game for United against Wolves.

Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen will hope to be involved for United, who have already beaten Wolves in the League Cup this season and will not want to waste a second chance to draw level on points with leaders Chelsea.

GuardianService