Before this season, it seemed like the Premier League was turning into a fight for Middle Eastern superiority, as Qatar looked to join Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia on our football map with their bid to buy Manchester United.

It has not turned out that way in the first five months — and not only because Qatar failed to get the keys to Old Trafford.

The top of the table is wide open at the half-way stage, with a handful of points separating the top five clubs. As usual, the Premier League is making fools of those who lazily presumed that just because Liverpool hammered Manchester United 7-0 last season, they would do the same again this time. That just because Crystal Palace were 15th, they would lose at Manchester City.

But even I didn’t anticipate a season like this one. I genuinely believe any one of those five teams could win it — and, yes, I do include in that the excellent Aston Villa squad who are thriving under Unai Emery.

We’re looking at possibly the most exciting Premier League title race in years.

Liverpool put in a below-par performance against Man United last weekend, but are still in the mix at the top of the table

Villa are the unexpected ticket, of course. I vividly remember taking my son, James, to Villa Park on a Friday evening in August 2015 for their first home game of the season. I told him: ‘You’ll enjoy this night. This is a big club.’ But the experience still took him by surprise. He walked in and was silent for five or six seconds — taking in the vastness of the stadium, the impressive stands, the Holte End.

We’re talking about a huge club in England’s second largest city. There have been tens of thousands of dormant Villa supporters just waiting for this. The effect is like a snowball, rolling down a hill.

You’d be a fool to discount them from the equation because they have wealthy owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, who are there in the background. Not ‘busy’ owners. Just businessmen who have employed football people to get on with the football.

This looks to me like a very well-run football club. The sale of Jack Grealish has also given Villa licence to spend without falling foul of financial sustainability rules — which they’ve done well.

John McGinn has impressed at the heart of the Villa midfield to keep his side in title contention

I’ve always liked John McGinn, the mainstay of their midfield. He’s a seven-out-of-10 player every week and sometimes an eight or nine. You win leagues with this type of player. You know what you’re getting every week. Not all players can be pure Hollywood.

I’ve been impressed by the two Brazilians, Douglas Luiz and Diego Carlos. Ollie Watkins is a very good Premier League player, too. They were all inherited by Emery but the manager has made a difference by imbuing them with a better work ethic and aggression. He has given them a very clear sense of direction.

I’m sure Unai isn’t doing things much differently to how he worked at Arsenal, four years ago. The way things turned out there didn’t make him a bad manager. His success is further proof that managers usually get written off too soon. Don’t discount Tottenham, either. For me, their draw at City three weeks ago was significant. It showed what a good squad they have, to go with a brand of football that has supporters jumping up and down.

Arsenal’s signings make them a better team than last season. Liverpool are a vastly different side as well and blessed with better goalscoring options than anyone else.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have improved and could go one better than they did last season

Pep Guardiola’s Man City have struggled to maintain the standard they set last season

The defending champions still have Kevin De Bruyne to return for the second half of the campaign, though

I consider City’s struggle to maintain last season’s level to be a blip; a consequence of the three world-class players in their squad — my definition of which is that they would get in anyone else’s team — not being regularly available to them. 

Even with the strength of City’s squad as it is, you would miss those three. City have lost four of the six games Rodri has missed and the absence of the shield he creates for their defence explains why they’ve conceded more goals this season. I understand the Spanish FA’s concern about burnout with Rodri. He played nearly 70 games last season, including 56 for City. It’s a lot.

Ask yourself how often Kevin De Bruyne — absent since the first game of this season — has been the difference in tight games in the past five years and you see why he is missed. And now Erling Haaland is on the sidelines, too.

I don’t subscribe to the view that other clubs, particularly Liverpool, need to look at City’s blip and capitalise while they can. You only worry about your own performance.

At Liverpool, they told us to ‘prepare to meet the best version of the team you are up against’. If you can get your brain into that kind of gear, you won’t go far wrong. Blank out all the rest.

At this half-way stage, my two favourites would still be Liverpool and City, but the nature of this league means you simply can’t categorically say any one team will win it.

Tottenham are still in the title picture after starting the season impressively under Ange Postecoglou

Man City could have done without Jeddah distraction

Manchester City could probably have done without their Club World Cup adventure in Jeddah this week, which seems a more serious business than when our Liverpool team played a one-off game for the Intercontinental Cup against Flamengo in Tokyo’s National Stadium in 1981.

We treated the trip as a jolly. There was alcohol on the plane over. Alcohol there. And alcohol on the plane back. 

Bob Paisley’s assistant Joe Fagan said to us, ‘Don’t be getting injured’, because there was a big Boxing Day match against Manchester City at Anfield when we came back.

Then we found ourselves 3-0 down and Joe crucified us for not putting enough into it! It was one trophy we didn’t bring home!

Man City could have done without having to take part in the Club World Cup midway through the season

Phillips must jump at Juve loan

Good to hear Kalvin Phillips is giving serious consideration to a loan move to Juventus next month. 

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola apologised publicly to Phillips this week for buying him, which was interesting. The bottom line is that Pep didn’t get what he thought he was buying.

Though Phillips’s situation isn’t like anything I experienced, beyond my early days at Tottenham, it’s all just a part of the deal. Phillips has to cope with it. I would say to Phillips: ‘Go for it. Make that move to Juventus.’

It’s a great football club who are followed in vast numbers in every city across Italy, as I discovered everywhere I went there while playing for Sampdoria.

At City, Phillips is up against arguably the best holding midfielder out there in Rodri. This is a chance to get his career back on track and prove a point.

Kalvin Phillips ought to jump at the opportunity to get regular first team football at Juventus

Emi’s mad, bad and brilliant

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is up there with the best and I’m not sure either of Arsenal’s keepers, David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale, would be an improvement on him. 

But I do think Martinez embarrasses himself at times — his theatrics and simulation at Brentford last Saturday being a case in point. Ridiculous.

Emiliano Martinez embarrassed himself with his antics against Brentford last week

Those attributes are what we’ve come to expect of Argentines. That country produces some of the best footballers in the world but they also have that mixture of Latin and Spanish — flair tempered with steeliness — and never know when they’re beaten.

That win-at-all-costs mentality causes problems at times.

Every team knows what they’re up against in Martinez. It was there at the last World Cup. It’s up to opponents not to fall into the trap he set at Brentford. Martinez also has the ‘mad gene’ — typical of goalkeepers. I swear that the majority of them are crazy!

You need to be prepared for him.