Daniel Storey, in the consistently excellent Winners and Losers on F365:
After beating Crystal Palace at home on November 9, Chelsea were nine points clear of fifth place. They have only managed 13 points from 11 league games since, yet are somehow still five points clear of fifth.
It doesn’t seem that long ago, when Klopp, Guardiola, Pochettino and Wenger were involved in some intense battles just to secure a top four spot. Then in the second half of last season, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and United seemed hellbent on throwing away a place in the Champions League. That bar seems to have lowered even further this year. Leicester have secured a top four spot simply on the basis of an excellent first half of the season, while it looks like Chelsea will join them by virtue of winning once or twice every three games. For all the excellence of Klopp and Guardiola, there is no denying the rest of the big hitters are floundering, and floundering badly at that. Once again, fourth seems like a race to the bottom.