WHY are the top six in the Premier League so far ahead of the rest this season?
For me, the managers have been the difference. At four of the top six clubs, the managers are in their first full season.
And it’s not that their squads are far better than they were last season compared to the rest of the Premier League.
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Yes, top players are going to top clubs but the manager has a huge influence.
Chelsea is a prime example. It’s a change of system, it’s a manager getting his point across. And now the Blues are 26 points better off than they were at this stage last season.
Yes, they have added N’Golo Kante and David Luiz to their squads but are they worth 26 more points compared to last term?
The impact that new coach Antonio Conte has had is unquestionable. He is working with basically the same group of players that Jose Mourinho was.
It was a blessing in disguise for Chelsea, Liverpool going there and beating them in September and them going to Arsenal and getting humiliated 3-0 eight days later.
It meant that Conte could change things a lot quicker than he might have thought he would be able to.
Liverpool are 14 points better off than they were at this stage last season.
Is Sadio Mane worth an extra 14 points to Liverpool? I would say probably not.
Again, it’s mostly the same players but after another year, including a pre-season, they have a better understanding of Jurgen Klopp and what he wants.
Mourinho took a while to find his feet but United are now six points better off and improving all the time.
Yes, they have got Ibrahimovic, Pogba and Mkhitaryan in. But in style of play there is no comparison to last year.
Mourinho has completely changed the way United played under Louis van Gaal.
It was a bizarre season last year.
And there was a lot of football snobbery toward Leicester.
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It was, ‘We’ll play the way we want to play and be better than you.’
Pep Guardiola has had a lot of stick and had to change his tactics against Leicester.
But Man City are three points better off than this stage last year — and I am sure Pep will get it right when he has the players he needs to play the way he wants to play.
We have better managers today in the Premier League than we have ever had, who are some of the best tacticians in the world.
Those at the top six clubs bring an X-factor.
Tweet me at: @Higginbotham05
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