The Decline of the EPL

True enough, I'd say.

But if Sevilla are the fourth or fifth best team in Spain, I'd expect the fourth or fifth team in England (Chelsea? Man U? Spurs? Arsenal?) to do equally well in La Liga.

I mean, two of those have won the CL and the other two got to the Final (all relatively recently), which is something Sevilla have never achieved.

I'm not disparaging Sevilla's achievements on a small budget, nor do I dismiss the fact of the PL being much so much richer than La Liga.

But the debate concerns which is the "better" (quality, competitiveness, excitement, strength in depth etc) of the two.

And my opinion is that the PL is overall a better league than La Liga, not least because it is a richer one, and is now finally applying those riches to good effect.

And I would go further by stating that this has been disguised by the excellence of two or three (only) Spanish clubs, which itself partly derives from the way La Liga's wealth used to be unfairly distributed to those clubs' favour (essentially clubs negotiating and keeping their own TV deals, rather than collectively as a league).

But there is clear evidence that both Barca and Real are now in big trouble financially, with Covid merely exacerbating this, not causing it.

Meanwhile Atletico are heavily dependant upon Simeone, who has now been in charge for a decade; should he decide to leave, he would leave a huge gap to fill.

I'll see yuur (selective) 6 games from last season and raise you my every game against every European opponent from the last three seasons:

https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/#/yr/2020

And for 2020/21 so far, English clubs have accumulated 5,928 points to Spain's 5,214:

Clear evidence that English clubs are now ahead of Spanish clubs, in European competition at least.

(Note, too, that German, Italian and French clubs are nowhere)

Or another way of looking at it is that from the start of the 2017/18 season to date, English clubs have gained 67,212 co-efficient points to date, with Spanish clubs gaining 63,427.

Which is strong evidence for my contention that while La Liga was "top dog" until a few seasons ago, that is no longer the case.

And I would go further and predict that with this present financial crisis hitting the game everywhere, PL clubs will come out of it with the least damage, giving them an opportunity to pull further away.