Is this the Premier League season when the Premier League has cracked it? Leicester City at the top, Tottenham Hotspur in second place, big-spending clubs such as Aston Villa relegated and Newcastle United and Sunderland fighting for their lives.

Then there is Manchester City in the semi-finals of the Champions League and Liverpool in the last four of the Europa League this week to soften the argument that the English clubs have failed again in European competition.

From his office in Gloucester Place, central London, the Premier League’s chief executive Richard Scudamore can ponder whether this is the season where the most important aim of his tenure – since he was appointed in 1999 – has been vindicated.