Smaller teams winning the Premier League

[AaronRedDevil]

Is it more possible then ever for a team outside the top 6 to pull a Leicester? The smaller teams have spent a lot of insane money even for them. Which makes it easier to build a quality team and believe in a plan moving forward. If they find the right manager, it would be very possible. Aston Villa outspent almost everyone other than Man United. Here's the top 10 list of spending.


Man Utd-£148m

Aston Villa-£144

Arsenal-£138m

Man City-£134m

Everton-£118m

Tottenham-£101m

Leicester-£91m

West Ham-£78m

Newcastle -£65m

Wolves-£65m


Chelsea are banned and Liverpool haven't spent a penny even though they probably got a big champions league bonus on top of that. A team like Everton, that for as far back I can remember had a shoe string budget when moyes was in charge, in that they have spent £118m. They maybe can't get any of the usual big players like Pogba or Mbappe. So while all the top 6 looks for big names with established quality, the smaller teams looks for players they can buy and turn them into hidden gems. Just like Leicester when they bought Vardy, Kante and Mahrez for a cheap price. And he rest was history. Who do you think would be the next team outside the top 6 to make a big challenge for the Premier League.

 

[golden_blunder]

A small team will win it this season - Liverpool

 

[FootballHQ]

Everyone knows the Leicester season for a neutral was just a wonderful fluke, even now less than four seasons on I still do a double take when I see the table and see their name at the top (and they won it by I think 10 points!)

Look at West Ham yesterday. I actually think over the season Haller with Lanzini, Anderson and Fornals behind will be a very exciting foursome upfront. Then behind you have Rice-Wilshere/Noble which is solid enough, Diop is good CB and Fabainski had a brilliant season in goal last year.

Pretty much all of them featured yesterday on a first day when shocks often happy and a rusty Man. City still destroyed them on their own ground.

It's not just signing good players, it's the team shape, playing between the lines well, pressing on and off the ball constantly etc. Man. City and Liverpool just do that better than anyone else in this league by a considerable distance.

 

[Acole9]

Funnily enough last weekend I overheard a pissed West Ham fan in the Co Op telling another West Ham fan how they were going to win the league this season, Leicester had done it so why couldn't they .

 

[Igor Drefljak]

I think sides are getting stronger. So much money in the Premier League sides are able to sign very good players.
Problem is, City are so efficient right now that it's hard for the suggested to happen.

Liverpool spent a lot of money last year and they reaped the rewards from it. Strong title push and a Champions League win. They didn't need to spent to stay competitive, it'd help push City of course, but they strengthened so much and it all clicked, that lesser clubs wont catch up.

United are the polar opposite. We've spent money and nothing has paid off.

 

[izec]

Liverpool and City are two oiled machines. As long as Pep and Klopp are there, chances of anyone else winning it are very slim

 

[Nickosaur]

Brighton looked good yesterday...

 

[Impulse]

City have won two in a row so it's clearly much easier now.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

:

A small team will win it this season - Liverpool

Well done

 

[giorno]

Nope. Leicester needed all the top 6 to be kind of crap simultaneously to pull it off. Chances of that happening again are very slim

 

[amolbhatia50k]

It'll happen eventually but a story like Leicester's is a one in a multiple decade event.

Also, why do you think it's more probable now? The gal between first and third was 27 points.

 

[IhabX7]

Sadly, I think Pep will win it as long as he's in England.

 

[VorZakone]

West Ham fielded players like Haller, Anderson, Lanzini and Fornals yet couldn't do shit against City.

 

[Omahahaha]

It's difficult to attract (and keep) the best talents for teams with a lower budget for salaries, even if they can afford to spend a lot more on transfer fees nowadays.
I have a hard timing seeing another team doing a Leicester in the coming years, especially with Pep, Klopp and Pochettino around.

 

[Perseus]

Funnily enough last weekend I overheard a pissed West Ham fan in the Co Op telling another West Ham fan how they were going to win the league this season, Leicester had done it so why couldn't they .

Conceding five at home worked in 2015-16

 

[Perseus]

It's difficult to attract (and keep) the best talents for teams with a lower budget for salaries, even if they can afford to spend a lot more on transfer fees nowadays.
I have a hard timing seeing another team doing a Leicester in the coming years, especially with Pep, Klopp and Pochettino around.

As the top six pinch all the players, the chances of a pretender beating the also rans, putting ten behind the ball against the top six (who pinch points of each other) and sneak up on the outside rail?

When pressing game degenerates into chasing around like blue-arsed flies, when ordinary players become technically more proficient (e.g. passing to players on the same side), when the opposing young manager out thinks (like a chess player) the big guns, when the prima-donnas do not chase a lost cause ball or fail to track back. When the also-rans do not make a mistake allowing the parasite strikers a goal start.

Really need top six teams all pinching points of each other to sneak into Europe, and the pretenders taking points of the top six at home.

 

[Casanova85]

Blackburn in 1995 was not surprising considering the squad (including Shearer) and the manager they had. And the PL back then still had the vibe of the old English league. That's why Leeds had won a league in 1992. Cantona suspended for most of the season was also a huge boost for them. Newcastle could have won it in 1997 but Cantona and the Class of 92 were there to prevent it.

Leicester in 2016 had a Top5 squad (Maguire, Mahrez, Vardy, etc) but it's a miracle they won it. It took a meltdown by Chelsea, LVG's horrid football with Man Utd, Klopp in a transitional season, and Arsenal and Spurs fecking it up (not surprisingly) to make them champions. 2016-17 was more like it.

 

[redman5]

A small team will win it this season - Liverpool

6 times La