May the force be with the new order in the EPL
Long live the new order in the English Premiership
Leicester City earned a point against Manchester City, but lamented the loss of the other two.
West Ham endured 52 years of humiliation before finally winning at Anfield in August.
The last time the Hammers won at Liverpool, four lads from the same city were calling themselves The Beatles and celebrating their first No. 1.
Watford also stuffed Liverpool. Bournemouth beat Chelsea and turned over Manchester United.
In any other season, any one of these results would've registered on the Richter scale, a shock to the most stubborn of systems.
Not anymore. The Big Four are no more. The obituary has already been written. A sledgehammer has been taken to the top table, leaving the elite staggering around on broken glass.
The calendar year, 2015, deserves to be remembered for the timely death of the game's fat cats.
Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea (and even Arsenal to a certain extent) are united by both the corporate greed of foreign owners and their insatiable desire to chase down every global dollar from gullible fans.
Their heritage remains, but the playing field suddenly looks a lot more level than it did a year or ago.
When the EPL sold its television rights for a record £5.136 billion ($10.75b) in February - a 71 per cent increase on its previous sale, the chasm between rich and poor narrowed overnight.
For the first time since its inception, the world's most lucrative league finds itself filled with "haves" and "have mores".
The TV revenues per club are now so vast that those once considered also-rans are now blessed with a priceless advantage.
They can say, "no".
Without a shadow of a doubt, this subtle shift in financial power should be remembered as 2015's finest hour.
Of course, if Real Madrid come calling for Riyad Mahrez or Barcelona tap Xherdan Shaqiri's shoulder, both men are on first-class flights to Spain the following morning.
But Leicester are not under financial pressure to sell either Mahrez or Jamie Vardy to Premier League rivals. There is a healthy precedent to follow.
Everton have already said "no".
John Stones stayed. So did Ross Barkley, Romelu Lukaku, Leighton Baines and Gerard Deulofeu.
Southampton also said "no". Sadio Mane never joined Manchester United.
Fickle memories are short in football, but it's worth remembering that the great exodus from Southampton to Liverpool was just over a year ago.
With money raining down on every club from Sky, the great TV benefactor, would Adam Lallana leave the Saints, if he was still at the club?
Would it be a given that the terrifying, teenaged Wayne Rooney would swop the blue of Merseyside for the red of Manchester today? Of course it wouldn't.
Both clubs can offer telephone numbers for salaries, which only leaves the player to ponder his personal preferences.
In the past, the road usually led to Old Trafford, obviously.
Robin van Persie swopped Arsenal for United, claiming the latter boasted a superior pedigree and history.
Louis van Gaal's recent floundering shows how quickly those neglected history books can turn musty when they are not frequently updated.
In previous seasons, even Sir Alex Ferguson was allowed the odd transfer blunder (and take off those rose-tinted glasses and you'll recall more than you think).
He could get away with buying Bebe, David Bellion and Eric Djemba-Djemba or even selling Paul Pogba because the talent gap was so valid.
If United stayed ahead of Arsenal or Chelsea, silverware was usually assured.
But the ageing heavyweights of yesteryear must now contend with Mahrez's Leicester, Shaqiri's Stoke, Odion Ighalo's Watford, Dimitri Payet's West Ham, Dele Alli's Tottenham and Yohan Cabaye's Crystal Palace among others.
OVERSHADOWED
All six players are - or were before injuries intervened - contenders for the league's best 11, easily outperforming more illustrious names at wealthier clubs.
In the past, all six were at risk of being scooped up in those endless fishing nets controlled by soulless trawlers.
All six can now stay at their existing clubs to lead a credible expedition to the top four.
The sly shift in the balance of power has obviously destabilised the league, leading to erratic, circus-like performances rather than celebrated matches of sustained quality.
It's a season of transition. Inconsistency is inevitable.
But 2015 should also be remembered as the year when billionaire owners no longer got their own way with their weekend playthings; a year when minnows were not slapped down by mightier chequebooks.
The silverware may yet end up with one the usual suspects, but the days of the Big Four - Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal carving up the league's pie among themselves are done.
The second half of the season begins with everyone utterly clueless regarding the title's final. It's a New Year worth celebrating.
The old Big Four are dead. Long live the new English Premier League.
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