Exclusive: Former Premier League Star Muamba Believes Top Flight is Better than Ever Before

Former Premier League star Fabrice Muamba believes the standard in the top flight is “better than ever”.

Champions Manchester City have dominated the division with four successive league titles to savour.

But this season it’s been a different story with Liverpool having been the side to beat, flying high at the summit just past the halfway stage of proceedings.

The Reds are six points clear of second-placed Arsenal having lost just one of their 21 matches.

Surprise-package Nottingham Forest are third on the same points as the Gunners, but having a less goal difference from their fellow title-chasers, and City find themselves lagging behind, a staggering 12 points off top spot and with time running out to try and win a record fifth Premier League crown in a row.

“The quality of the coaching in the Premier League has never been better, there’s so many top managers now,” former Arsenal, Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers ace Muamba told SportsBoom.com. 

“Arne Slot at Liverpool has inherited a very, very good team, but he’s also a very good coach and I’m sure he’ll want to take them to another level."

“You look at how well he goes about his business, just like Pep [Guardiola], every season he’s still hungry and driven to win titles after all he’s achieved in the game."

“And then someone like [Arsenal boss]Mikel [Arteta], whose a great coach, and then you’ve got the Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler, whose a young manager who is fearsome and doesn’t seem to be scared of anybody. His team play on the front foot, which is great to see."

“For me, it’s exciting to see the league so close this season and so many teams pushing each other.”

MEMORABLE PROMOTION

Muamba started his career with Arsenal but due to a lack of first team opportunities made the move to Birmingham and enjoyed promotion to the top-flight with the Blues in the 2006-07 season.

The midfielder made his debut Premier League season in 2007-08 and then had four seasons in the top-flight with the Trotters before he famously collapsed, then aged 23, during a game having suffered a cardiac arrest.

Now the 36-year-old is trying to make his own way as a coach in the professional game with Burnley in the Championship.

He likens the opportunity as the “next best thing to playing football”.

GIVING BACK

“I want to share my experiences. I want to be able to pass on my knowledge from my time as a player and communicate that to the talents of tomorrow.”

“As a young coach myself it makes me want to put myself out there more and see what I can achieve,” Muamba told SportsBoom.com. 

“I enjoy watching the games, the style of play is so exciting these days."

“At the end of the day I think over the years we’ve been brainwashed with a tiki-taka style of football, fans want to see attacking, quick football."

“If you look at Brighton, they’ve showed there’s more than one way to play football."

“Liverpool are showing how to play attractive, fast-paced football, it’s what the supporters want to see.”