Reasons why EPL was dominated by the Manchester clubs

Last year’s Premier League was mostly just a two-horse race between the two clubs of Manchester. But it wasn’t always just United and City. Here are a few possible reasons for their dominance:

The money

Since the takeover by Sheikh Mansour, Manchester City have spent nearly a billion pounds on the club’s development. This was not only vital for their Premier League victory last season, it proved that money can buy you titles. But the most important thing of spending money, is where and how you spend it. Manchester City spent it wisely, and although there were a few mistakes in player transfers and hiring managers, they now have a formidable team, and are also very young. Unlike Chelsea, who also spent quite large sums, they spent it wisely. Chelsea wasted 50 million on Fernando Torres. They could have instead got Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid for 10-15 million lesser. Plus, Torres isn’t young either, whereas Aguero is still under 25.

Horrible start by Arsenal

I can’t quite remember the last time Arsenal had been outplayed so badly i.e. the loss at Old Trafford last season. They were humbled by a young and strong United side. Arsenal had troubles with injuries – agreed. But having lost Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in the same year, surely they had enough time and money to buy a replacement. Mikel Arteta was hardly the ideal replacement for those two playmakers. Shockingly Arsenal suffered defeats to even the now relegated Blackburn Rovers. This was obviously the end of their campaign, and getting back to the top half of the table was a great achievement. Yet, it only widened the gap between the top 2 and the chasing pack.

A wasteful Chelsea side

Chelsea had a new manager in place, Andre Villas Boas. Lot was expected from the young manager after a successful season at Porto. But I wouldn’t blame him for the horrendous errors committed by them in defence. The old guard, in particular, seemed to have disliked the new manager. They had a good team, but were highly inconsistent and tactically weak. Only god knows how they managed to beat Barcelona and Bayern Munich to win the Champions League. But even fans of Chelsea would have to agree, that ‘parking the bus’ was the only way they would have achieved anything.

Apart from Juan Mata, they lacked creativity in midfield. They played ugly against the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich. They can never find a replacement for Drogba, who bowed out of Chelsea with the Champions League victory. But now, they want to change their style of play. Signing Eden Hazard, Oscar and Marko Marin would signal the start of a new era for Chelsea, an offensive one. They were inconsistent in the league last season, and I’m hoping they’ll be better this time around.

A strong United side

United were about to start a new era of their own. They made new signings, Ashley Young, David de Gea and Phil Jones. And they had promoted two promising youngsters from their youth ranks; Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck. Their squad was filled with youth and enthusiasm, but yet the creativity was lacking. They started the season well and were too good for both Arsenal and Chelsea, but eventually falling prey to Manchester City. Nevertheless, they will be back this season, stronger and hungry for more.