How are you quantifying this tho? Checking the table from that year the teams all in the top half had more points than the current teams.
The number of international caps per player in the league. And that's my point, the top half was so much better than the rest. I'm saying this year the difference between 3-12 is gonna be a lot smaller than usual. Palace is better, Fulham is better, Brighton is about the same, Chelsea is good again, United is back in the mix, Spurs are Spurts, Sunderland and Everton are contending for Europe, Villa is contending for Europe, City is City...
Like that's half the table
And Haaland might stay healthy the whole year and arsenal may get more injuries. There's no guarantee either way. Soon they'll be playing in four competitions regularly, with no room for error. Their away form has been subpar (loses at Anfield, Villa, draw at Bridge). Truth is, arsenal has the habit of giving away points when others are (we saw it last year when city fell off).
In terms of away form these are games MOST teams lose historically. Where Arsenal have faltered and lost the title wasn't away against City or Liverpool. It was home against West Ham, away against Newcastle, home against Palace.