As City and Arsenal leave Europe, is the Premier League really the best in the world? | Champions League

YoThe thing is that the Mitchell and Webb sketch was repeated. Premier League fans look around nervously. Are we… the farmers? (credit to Charlie at X who asked me this question). How are we going to continue if the Premier League is not there?The biggest league in the world”™? He Champions League The quarterfinals have been a healthy reminder that there are good footballers in good football teams led by good coaches who play in other countries. You may be reading this after the Europa and Conference League games; Who knows what state the coefficient will be in after Thursday's Europa and Conference League games.

The best league in the world is an easy phrase to use and throw away. It feels very Barclays, in the early days of the Premier League. Inflate this. Cheer up. Every game is great. We can't have dead air. Football fans deserve more credit. For every big announcement, for every Chelsea 4-4 Manchester Citythere is a Manchester City 0-0 Arsenal. And that's fine. We love football because the games are different: some are wild, some are tense, some are brilliant, some are terrible and they just give you a good chance to catch up with whoever you sit next to. We put in the hours, we know these things. Actually, it's part of the joy of football.

The ease with which we can watch continental leagues may have colored our first division attach. But I'm definitely guilty of falling into the arrogant trap of believing I'm getting the best. If there needs to be the best league in the world, then there are strong arguments for it to be the Premier League. It has the most money and the highest salaries, which isn't necessarily a good thing, but it means the greatest concentration of talent.

Manchester City winning five of the last six titles is a problem, at least for the sake of variety. That stick with which Premier League fans used to beat Spain, Germany and Scotland is a little flimsier when every year a man in a sky blue shirt lifts the trophy. After last weekend, it seems inevitable that they will go ahead and do it again – we expect Arsenal and Liverpool to come out of their respective dryers and challenge them to the end.

The old saying that anyone can beat anyone in this league is true – it's useful to say it if Palace victory at Anfield. But it's obvious that the best teams don't lose that often in any league. City have suffered three league defeats this season. against wolves, Arsenal and Aston Villa. The best teams on the continent have been more dominant than that. Madrid has lost once (outside of Atlético), International(at home to Sassuolo) and Paris Saint-Germain (at home in Nice) the same, while Bayer Leverkusen has shown that no one can beat them. Whether this is conclusive proof that the Premier League is more competitive is up for debate. All the top leagues have one or two teams adrift at the bottom. The teams there lose a lot of games. Who knows?

What metrics are we using here anyway? Right now every Premier League club seems to see increasing the prices of their subscriptions more than the last guys as a kind of tone-deaf challenge. Affordability may seem as important as quality.

There is an oversimplification that anyone who has moved to another league is a “Premier League failure”. How dare Dusan Tadic almost take Ajax to the Champions League final when he didn't destroy trees for Southampton? Ruben Loftus-Cheek must be on the decline if he has had to sully himself with lowly Milan. It is perhaps telling that two of this week's heroes, Antonio Rüdiger and Eric Dier, have moved from England. Of course, not even the most hardcore PL ultra could argue that Real Madrid are one step below anywhere.

But Dier is an interesting case. He was nowhere near Spurs' first team, to the point where Ange Postecoglou was sticking full-backs into central defense instead of giving Dier a chance. Some Carlo Ancelotti-sized eyebrows were raised when moved to Bayern. If he can't make the squad for the fifth-best team in the Premier League but is a starter for the second-best team in Germany, does that mean the Bundesliga is infinitely inferior? Or is it simply that players may not fit into one system but fit into another? It is a testament to Dier that he keeps Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae out of Thomas Tuchel's side.

In a world where someone tells Matt Le Tissier that Johan Cruyff is still alive, you can find whatever you want on social media. There's a video of three pretty articulate guys sitting in front of a Subbuteo field. “I think Brighton would win Serie A,” says one of them, a bit ironically. “Do you believe?” the host asks, a little confused. “I think they would compete,” he said more seriously. “They would definitely be in the top four, right?” the third adds confidently. Of course, this clip circulated afterwards Roma beat Roberto De Zerbi's men 4-0 in the Europa League, long after it was registered.

It's hard to say exactly how serious they were being, but the reaction illustrated the fact that there are enough people on the continent who believe English arrogance is real. A Champions League preview in which I said Inter's group wasn't that interesting was picked up by an Italian pundit who accused me of “posting shit” about Serie A for clicks.

Maybe he was right, but it felt a bit over the top. Created some content for him and some insults from another country for me. Fighting for content, clicks, eyeballs, followers and listening/viewing figures certainly does not help rational argumentation.

And this is before we get to another important tournament. Make England favorites. Paint your face. Ignore all historical evidence. Forget that they play soccer in France and Spain. He's coming home.

The fundamental question is: does anyone care? And if so, why? The league you see is the league you watch. The team you support is the team you support. You clearly see other leagues through your own lens. What you like the most does not have to be the best.