I always use the Champions League as a barometer of where we're at. The old top 4 were quite strong most seasons, they showed it in the Champions League on a regular basis. We usually tended to get 2 or 3 into the semis. None of the current top 6 are at a level with realistic expectations of reaching latter knock-out stages. So while there's more teams competing for top 4, the level of football dropping has contributed to the closeness in quality between teams.

You haven't needed to be a very very good team to win the league in a long while, so I say yes it has been more competitive. We weren't brilliant the year RVP helped us win. City won twice without being anything special, year in year out the CL shows how good they really are. Chelsea who were so shite half a year ago have outgrown the league again already. They would still get spanked by several sides across Europe though. Spurs have hit a wall, they'll fall off unless they can buy world class players or make them. I don't think Eriksen, Alderweireld etc can take them beyond what they did last season. They need to stay ambitious and bring in 1 or 2 who can raise their ceiling.