I was pondering this morning...next season is going to test just how big the "top __" group can be. It used to be top 4. Then top 6. Now top 7. I don't think the group can have 7 members for more than a year or two.
The bigger that group gets, the harder it is to maintain because it means the likelihood of an individual club missing out on CL football for multiple consecutive seasons, increases. And that sustained failure to qualify for the CL will have an exponential impact on a club's finances and ability to attract players. A massively wealthy club can throw money at the problem and significantly dent the impact. There will always be elite players who will come play in the Europa League for you if you pay them 5x what they are worth. But even slightly less wealthy clubs are going to suffer the larger that group gets. Throw in the fact that there are 2nd tier clubs like Brighton, Brentford, and now, Villa, who seem to have the organization to consistently punch above their weight and regularly take points off the top 7 and you have a very challenging environment to maintain that group of 7.
All of which is to say that I think Tottenham could be in severe trouble and will be the one that falls away bringing us back to a top 6. It might not be them. It could be any club that isn't exponentially wealthy. But they seem the most likely at the moment. They appear to have nothing going in their favor at the moment. Their leadership is laughable. They have no manager and no direction. Their on-field talent is slowly eroding away and looks like it will continue to do so. They are financially solid but they can't compete with the money that City, Newcastle, United, and Chelsea throw around (even if 2 of those clubs throw it very poorly).
TL;DR...I think Tottenham is on the verge of returning to perennial mid-table finishes.
