Why it doesn’t matter that the Premier League ‘fix’ the fixtures
SHoCk and, indeed, horror. The Premier League fix the fixtures. Well, not fix, exactly. Plan, that would be the better word. Arrange, maybe. They keep the top six teams apart on the opening and final weekends of the season. And we are meant to be outraged by this.
For most, the reaction will be little more than a shrug. Tell us something we didn’t know. Anyone who still believes in the famous computer, spewing out its pairings at random, is probably still committed to Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny and the inevitability of Jeremy Corbyn as the next Prime Minister.
All those Super Sundays, clashing derby days in north and south, prime-timed collisions to overshadow international breaks or rival major events in other sports do not happen by accident. We’re not stupid. Wow, Manchester United versus Liverpool and Arsenal against Chelsea on the same weekend — again. Well, what are the chances of that happening?
The thing is, what the Premier League cooks up doesn’t harm its competition in the least. The season does not need contrived marquee openings or showy grand finales. Most weeks, excitement just happens.
Not this Sunday, admittedly. The final Champions League slot requires no more than Liverpool to draw at home to Brighton, while a 10-goal swing is needed to adjust the relegation placings. So it’s a bit anticlimactic.
But still not as much as it would have been if, say, the Manchester derby had been saved until last with City a yawning gap clear. only a showdown between Chelsea and Liverpool could make the battle at the top interesting — and that happened as recently as last week anyway. So major clubs do meet in the final weeks of the season. It just occurs by chance, with cup commitments causing rearrangements, rather than by special command.
over the last three seasons, the final four fixtures of the campaign have brought games between Chelsea and Tottenham, Manchester City and Arsenal, and Liverpool and Chelsea (2016), Tottenham and Manchester United (2017) and Manchester United and Arsenal and Chelsea and Liverpool (2018). Not forgetting that in 2016 Leicester were actually the best team in the country, with a fixture list that included Manchester United and Chelsea away in their final three fixtures.
Meaning stuff happens, as it will over a programme of 380 matches. Inadvertently, the fixtures throw up little cup finals all the time. Who would have imagined that Swansea v Southampton would turn into one of the most crucial matches of the season, or that a routine meeting between Chelsea and Huddersfield at Stamford Bridge would produce such extremes of emotion?
Not everything has to be names, names, names. Not all seasons must come to a lastday crescendo.
Arsenal’s game at Anfield in 1989 remains a high point — Michael Thomas scoring late to snatch the title from Liverpool — but that was a result of tragedy, not clever preparation. The game was supposed to take place on April 23, but was postponed following the Hillsborough disaster eight days earlier. So it wasn’t a scheduled finale. Indeed it was the first time since 1952 that two teams faced each other on the final day to decide the title. The narrative of a season cannot be choreographed that precisely. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. If a head- to- head meeting is the pinnacle, variations are no less compelling these days through modern technology. When Sergio Aguero decided the title with almost the last kick in 2012 it didn’t matter that the team Manchester City beat — Manchester United — were not on the pitch. City were at home to QPR, United at Sunderland. The drama as broadcasters cut between the venues, jubilation turning to distress, despair to elation, was what made those final moments so compelling. This is not 1952. If the title is being decided, the cameras will be there and it will feel like the teams are in the same arena even if they are separated by 200 miles. Just as it will on Sunday if Liverpool are losing at home and Chelsea winning at St James’ Park. That there are two other teams who can influence the outcome