The Premier League, whose new season begins on Saturday, will probably have its title won by one of two sides. The familiar four teams will probably battle for the other two Champions League qualification slots. The half-dozen sides expected to battle against relegation probably will wind up doing so. The Premier League is a clearly stratified division.
Except this season, nothing seems quite as certain as it normally does.
These are not normal times. In as far as it was possible to tell, the absence of crowds didn’t seem to make much difference (although Arsenal, perhaps, relaxed without the constant low grumble of the Emirates crowd), but the bigger issue is the shortened close season and the compressed nature of the fixture list.