The greatest show on earth has lost all its jeopardy

It's February and the Premier League title race is over - the competition may be rich, but football quality is retreating

- Barney Ronay

Ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached our cruising altitude. The pilot will be putting his feet up and drinking tiny cans of Sprite from here to the middle of May. Sit back, zone out. Stick on a bad film with Seth Rogen in it. You can even watch the football if you like. Just don't expect much to happen for the next three months.

So much for that excitingly bumpy, turbulence-fuelled Premier League season, all perky upstarts, crumbling certainties and unexpected shifts of altitude, which really did seem to be shaping up just a few short weeks ago. As of game weekend 26 and Arsenal's defeat against West Ham, followed by Liverpool strolling through Manchester City, the league has reached a stage of premature entropy.

It is incorrect to suggest that the title race is over. Or rather, it's only half correct. The title race is over, barring some kind of black swan collapse, Arne Slot deciding this is the perfect moment to reel out his Jazz Odyssey tactics phase. But lots of other things are over, too. In fact, pretty much the whole shebang.

We know who is going to win the league. We know who is going to get relegated (another note of dulling certainty: the same three teams who came up). We know who's going to come second. Manchester City will surely also end up in the top four, with midweek football now safely off the schedule.

Jeopardy, then. What have we got? Five teams going for two (probably) Champions League places. You can almost hear the broadcasters changing tack already. Come feast on that Big Fifth Place Energy. Welcome to Lower Court Judgment Day. Mid-Tier Repeat or Revenge. Almost-Super