Kevin Keegan was saying that the Premier League was boring? Yet more proof, if proof were needed that the former optimist is a bit of a gloomy chops these days. Boring? I should coco.
The title race has been compelling from the off, with Arsene Wenger's young guns blazing the trail, they seemed unstoppable until a horrific injury to Eduardo at Birmingham, followed by a late equaliser seemed to knock the fight of them. It was at this stage that it seemed more obvious that what was missing was an on the field leader as Gallas graphically showed with his petulance in that game that wasn’t one.
While Arsenal stumbled from draw to draw, Manchester United and Chelsea took full advantage, Chelsea in an uninspiring plodding way, United with the spectacular, Tevez and Rooney shining, Ronaldo sweeping all before him but notable old stagers Scholes and Giggs providing some real class when required. This team was a goal machine and a half and coupled with tower of strength Vidic at the back alongside a Ferdinand who finally showed us just how good he can be, they soon showed just why they deserved to be crowned as Champions.
Even Wes Brown looked good.
For a while it looked as though Liverpool would slip out of the top four, a stark reminder to all of the so-called elite that they have no divine right to be there. Everton ran them close for a while, David Moyes showing true grit in getting his charges to win the “other league”. They were run close though by free scoring freewheeling Villa, who made up for defensive frailties by showing they could find the net from all over the park. Luck with injuries may have helped O’Neill’s wafer thin squad along the way and they pipped Blackburn to the Intertoto spot.
Portsmouth were big contenders for a long time before falling away dramatically once they had secured a birth on the FA Cup Final, while Manchester City also looked resurgent at the beginning of the season before the wheels came off as doubts about the future of Sven served to undermine the team.
Tottenham suffered a false start as Martin Jol’s regime spluttered to a finish but they shown enough under new boss Ramos to look as though they will be big players in the mid table melee next year and have taken a cup to boot, while Alan Curbishley has suffered under the weight of expectation as he guided his expensive and often injured charges to mid table obscurity.
At the wrong end of the table, at one point or another this season, several teams looked doomed. Most people had written off Bolton entirely when Sammy Lee got the push but the never say die attitude of Gary Megson saw them pull of an escape of Houdini like proportions. Similarly Steve Bruce came in to weave his magic at Wigan and long forgotten Roy Hodgson turned up at Fulham to remind us why he was once considered to be a strong candidate for the England job.
Of course all these miraculous escapes lead to casualties and so it was that the goal shy Reading and inconsistent Birmingham found themselves plummeting through the trap door. Coming straight back may not be that easy.
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