By Raoul Zayas, reporting from the UK
Last year's epic league title race became a two club adventure by February. Manchester City and Liverpool battled it out until the season's final Sunday in mid May, when both clubs went into respective matches with City holding a slim 1 point lead in the standings (or "table", as the standings are called in the UK). Both clubs managed to win versus their opponents that day thus each securing 3 more points (in the EPL, 3 points are given for a win, while 1 point for a draw. There is no overtime. Goal difference is the tie breaker in the standings at season's end). Manchester City's 98 points bested Liverpool's 97 by one single point.
To say the race between the two was epic is an understatement. One goal in a loss, win or draw, either way for either side, would have changed the champion. LFC's 97 points was the highest total for a 2nd place team ever. In 16 of the last 19 seasons, 97 points would have captured the league title. Repeating champion City's 98 points were 2 shy of the previous year's 100 point league title tally (a record in English football history) for the blue side of Manchester (the red side would be Manchester United, while LFC's red are countered in the city of Liverpool by the blue side, Everton FC). City ended the year 32-2-4, while LFC only lost 1 match all season, going 30-7-1. Liverpool's only loss was to City by a score of 2-1; LFC's tying goal was deemed to not have crossed the line. Replays showed 1 move quarter revolution of the ball would have handed the Reds a point and taken 2 from City's win, thus ultimately changing the champion months later at season's end.
So, as you can see, epic may at times fall short as an adjective to describe last year's title race. Third place Chelsea finished the year with 72 points, 25 behind Liverpool and 26 behind the champions. The gap was huge; it was a two club race.
This season, after only 4 matches, the gap is starting to emerge again. Liverpool are the only club to not "drop" points yet, sitting at the top of the table with 4 wins and 12 points. City is 2nd with 10 points (3 wins and 1 draw), while Leicester City (pronounced Lester) sits in 3rd with 8 points (2 wins, 2 draws). These are the only 3 clubs to have not lost a game so far this season. Thirteen of the 20 clubs in England's top division (clubs can qualify from Wales as well, while Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own smaller leagues) have "dropped" more points than they have earned. The field this season seems to be very competitive and fairly even, except, of course for Liverpool and Manchester City. Both have dominated their early season opponents so far; City's draw was to Tottenham, having a late winning goal disallowed due to a hand ball by City in the run up to the goal. As you can see, a season of inches is already happening again. The ball brushing off a City player's hand before what would have been the shot scoring the winning goal for the "Cityzens" (and 3 points instead of 1) is all that is separating LFC and City in this early season's table.
It's a long way to go but the same trend as with last year's campaign is showing. The EPL (English Premier League; the top division out of 5 recognized divisions in The Football Association, or FA) is made up of 20 clubs. Each team, or "club", plays a perfectly balanced schedule of 38 games, or "matches", playing every other team in the top flight home and away. Twenty clubs means 19 opponents; 38 matches per season. Clubs must qualify each season based on the previous year's final standings. The top 17 stay in the league while the bottom 3 get relegated (sent down) to The Championship (the second division). The Championship's top 3 teams move up to the Premier League. This up and down "relegation" system is used for all divisions. Lots of money is made or lost by clubs each season moving up or down as TV revenue is much higher for clubs in the EPL. It becomes worldwide TV revenue for Premier League clubs as many nations around the world cover the EPL on television.
In the USA, NBC Sports has exclusive rights to the EPL. That money will be disbursed to EPL teams but not to lower division teams since foreign nations do not cover the lower divisions on their television broadcasts, only the EPL. Clubs have HUGE incentive to win and stay up or get to the EPL. Imagine that system in America? The Miami Marlins would be playing "A" ball!
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