Man City's 115 FFP charges could change everything for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta as Liverpool watch on

If the era of Jurgen Klopp against Pep Guardiola is coming to a close, then Mikel Arteta is waiting in the wings to take over. His Arsenal side picked up the mantle last year in challenging Manchester City for the Premier League title, and there's no sign of them slowing down now either as Liverpool return to make it a three-horse race.

Unlike managerial rivalries of the past, there is no hatred involved here on any side. Arteta respects Guardiola for the job he has done as a coach across his career, including the preparation for his own career as a manager. Klopp mirrors this mutual love too.

As the levels crank up, the tactics go a step further, athletes get quicker, stronger, and more nimble, and the fast twitch fibres spring to life with that much added sharpness. There is an element of not being able to split the best from the best anymore. The lines are just too blurred. Arsenal realised this last season as they pushed the most dominant force of English football (perhaps ever) to the wire.

What was this young, inexperienced side, founded not on mammoth transfer fees but on elite coaching, trust, growth and time, meant to do against a club constructed by state ownership over nearly 15 years? Arsenal may have crumbled, but they only did so under the most intense pressure, perhaps the sort of ramped-up expectations and demands that only Liverpool have faced in their own assault on the league. It was no sign of weakness, really.

But as the Premier League games become more controlled, there is an unsaid element at play that slips into the background. The game is moving towards courtrooms, paperwork, financial spreadsheets, lawyers, and appeals. If the 2010s were a decade of tiki-taka, then the 2020s are destined to be