Take Arsenal out of the Premier League and millions lose interest.
Take Manchester United out and the league loses one of its biggest global audiences.
Take Liverpool out and the same thing happens.
Now take Chelsea or Man City out… the Premier League carries on just fine.
That’s the difference between being successful and actually being part of the identity of English football.
Manchester United, Arsenal & Liverpool.
Those three are the face of the Premier League. It really is as simple as ABC.
The prophecy of Arsene Wenger has slowly come to fruition.
Back in January 2005, a controversial incident happened during a Manchester United vs Tottenham game.
Tottenham Pedro Mendes attempted a long range shot from inside the Manchester United half. United goalkeeper Roy Carroll appeared to have caught the ball, but he spilled it, and the ball clearly crossed the goal line before he desperately pulled it back.
The goal wasn’t given.
Tottenham were denied what would have been a late winning goal, and the incident immediately sparked calls for video technology to be introduced into football.
Arsene Wenger then weighed in on the debate and said:
“We need video replays. United would be mid-table if officials had the benefit of them.”
That was in 2005.
At the time, there was no VAR in the Premier League. Wenger was simply calling for officials to have access to video replays so that major refereeing mistakes could be corrected.
Fast forward more than a decade, and VAR eventually arrived in the Premier League in the 2019/20 season.
Since then, Manchester United haven’t won a single Premier League title, and they’ve become a mid-table club, just as Arsene Wenger predicted.
Respect to Arsene wenger 🫡🔴⚪
Icl Arsenal fans just need to accept Eze for who he is, he's laid back, not high intensity, but he can flip a game on its head in a second, it's just who he is
For as long as Bruno Fernandes remains a Manchester United player, Michael Carrick or any United manager, for that matter will probably struggle to implement a possession-heavy style of football.
And the reason is Bruno himself.
Bruno is an erratic midfielder. His first instinct is almost always to release the ball quickly, whether that's a risky forward pass, a quick counter, or an immediate transition to get United attacking.
But modern elite football doesn't always work like that.
Big teams are expected to dominate possession, control games, circulate the ball, rotate passes, move patiently and wait for the right opening.
That's where the No. 10 usually has to show patience too.
Look at players like Martin Ødegaard and Dani Olmo. They're comfortable receiving the ball, slowing things down, manipulating space and creating chances with calmness and intelligence rather than constantly trying to force the next action.
Bruno is almost the complete opposite.
And ironically, that's probably why he'll always look better at a struggling Manchester United side that can't consistently control games.
Give him a team that's constantly transitioning, give him space to attack, and his chaos becomes a weapon.
But put him in a highly organised possession-based team where you have to keep the ball, control the tempo and make the right decision instead of forcing a pass every five seconds, and suddenly his limitations become much more obvious.
Bruno's biggest strength is also potentially his biggest weakness.
He's built for chaos. Not control.
The quality of the Premier League in the last 18 months has been insane. Top teams spending billions yet still no easy games. Floor is so high across the division. As Van Dijk and Pep Guardiola said last season, probably the hardest the league has ever been to win.
21/22: Ligue 1 Team of the Year
22/23: Premier League Team of the Year
23/24: Premier League Team of the Year
24/25: Premier League Team of the Year
25/26: Premier League Team of the Year
William Saliba. One of one. 🫡