Ten games kicked off simultaneously on the final day of the Premier League season, a spectacle that felt overwhelming even to modern fans accustomed to staggered kick-offs. But from the mass of narratives, one key theme emerged: this was a brutally hard, extremely competitive league in which any slip-up is punished.
That lesson was learned most painfully by West Ham, who were relegated as Tottenham survived. Spurs held on to a 1-0 lead against Leeds, while West Ham led 3-0, but elsewhere Everton never really threatened the two goals needed to send Roberto De Zerzi's team down. Still, that Tottenham were in that mess in the first place, wrote Guardian football analyst Jonathan Wilson, suggests how badly the club has been run over the past couple of years.
“Jonathan Wilson says Premier League season shows wisdom can still beat wealth as Tottenham survive relegation.”
Arsenal's title win was not the most thrilling, Wilson conceded. Their football lacked the aesthetic thrill of Manchester City at their peak, but it is good that the prevailing model of football has been challenged, good that the champion seemed constantly to battle self-doubt rather than bludgeoning the league into submission with their wage bill. The days when champions gathered points in the high 90s seem over, and hopefully so too are the days when mid-30s was enough to stay up.
There have been complaints about the style of games, but such complaints tend to correlate strongly with how well the fan's team has done, Wilson noted. The bigger issue was the bunching of the table, the sense that nobody is safe.
"That is the message of this season," Wilson concluded. "Nobody is safe." The final day, with its simultaneous kick-offs, offered a reminder of an older, more chaotic football world. But the lesson was clear: in this league, wisdom can still elevate a club above its financial means, but only if the club is run well enough to withstand the brutal punishment of the slightest slip.