Yet, when Richard Keys repeated his mantra at the end of the last Super Sunday - Arsenal sucker-punching Manchester United and Liverpool blitzing Chelsea - the only audible marketing spin was ignorance of the fact the Anfield game took place on a Saturday. For once, Mr Keys was offering a cogent piece of analysis. Because, as the Champions League gets its pistons going again, there is strong evidence the English game has surpassed its counterparts as the finest domestic competition on the continent for the first time since the early '80s.

Take the way these things are usually measured. Firstly, dominance of the European Cup. No country is every likely to win six titles in a row again, but those four clubs form the biggest single national representation in the last 16, all topped their groups and all harbour very real ambitions of winning England's second title in three years. Secondly, strength in depth. While there is minimal difference in standard from Bolton in fifth to Tottenham in 11th, English clubs are beginning to command a similar authority in the Uefa Cup, the 14th-placed side reaching the final last year. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the quality of football.

The Premiership has finally caught up with and even overtaken both Serie A and La Liga in terms of tactical sophistication and technical ability.

Naturally, this last point manifests itself most transparently in the sport's ultimate currency: goals. Back in the mid'90s, when the Italian league was undeniably the pinnacle of world football - its star-spangled competition claiming 13 European titles out of 30 between 1989 and 1998, while its champions contested all but one Champions League final - the series of symphonic passing moves, floated free-kicks and fulminating drives on Gazzetta Football Italia's goal of the month competition made Match of the Day's seem laughable. While frequent mistakes accentuated the not immodest talents of Eric Cantona and Matthew Le Tissier, bona fide world-class players like Gabriel Batitusta and George Weah had to bypass football's most astute defenders with extreme expressions of their talent.

Yet the Premiership's goal of the month competition for December matched anything Serie A had to offer in that time - Weah's 90-yard run against Verona in September 1996 perhaps being the only exception. While Paul Scholes's supremely executed volley may have topped something of a freakish month, the quality is becoming a trend. Witness Obafemi Martins's strike for Newcastle against Tottenham, or Aiyegbeni Yakubu's against Charlton in January.

The point being, where once the English game traded solely on the excitement brought about by error, the demands have now been raised. It is worth noting, as Paul Wilson first reported in the Observer back in November, the Premiership's goals-to-game ratio has fallen from a high of 2.78 in the 1999/2000 season to an alltime low of 2.42 at present. Across the division, defences are far better organised and discerning. No longer is it enough to batter teams into submission with a highpaced, high-altitude game; a more subtle, possession-based approach is required. . .

much like La Liga.

The trend is evident from the top down.

Manchester United have made first place their own by adopting that most Spanish of systems. Eschewing the traditionally English 'water-carrier', whose sole function is to break up play, Alex Ferguson has opted for two primarily ball-playing midfielders in Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes. Constantly keeping the ball moving, it was only when Ferguson had them abandon that approach - attempting to protect a late lead - that they lost to an equally possessive Arsenal side. The champions, meanwhile, are just that due to Jose Mourinho mastering and even updating Italy's classic catenaccio system. With Claude Makelele as the archetypal modern libero in front of an unimpeachable defence - at least when injury-free - ball retention has been key, Chelsea completing a staggering 81 per cent of their passes last year.

It is perhaps Blackburn Rovers, however, who best mark this evolution in the Premiership. Only two years ago, their modus operandi was essentially physical intimidation. They are now flourishing, David Bentley, Tugay and Morten GamstPedersen spear-heading one of the most exciting and fluent midfields in the league.

And while Bolton's continuing challenge for a Champions League place may betray the league's ongoing coarseness - though they are a far sleeker proposition thanks to Nicolas Anelka - it is an even worse indictment of the Spanish league that a team as blunt as Osasuna actually managed to claim the country's fourth spot.

For, in stark contrast to the Premiership, the rest of Europe's major leagues have been regressing. La Liga, the standardbearer since the turn of the century, has this year stagnated. While the tightness of the title race superficially suggests some excitement, in reality critics and fans have bemoaned poor play and negative tactics. Barcelona have lead by being functional, never fantastic, struggling to dominate games, while it speaks volumes that a team as one-dimensional as Fabio Capello's Real Madrid can not only stay in touch, but required a spent David Beckham to do so last week. Ironically, the one side to excite this year, Sevilla, have done so through a quintessentially English style; their manager Juande Ramos even admitting last month that they play at such a fast pace to compensate for a lack of technique.

In Italy meanwhile, the golden generation of players that made up the World Cupwinning side not only temporarily papered over the Moggi scandal, but also the declining quality of the Italian game. Bad enough an ostentatiously-assembled and limited Inter side have been allowed win the title by default, worse that if they also win the Champions League, it will only be Italy's second European trophy in seven years.

So, after 14 years repeating himself, Mr Keys might have finally hit the nail on the head. And the reason for that isn't down to any carefully planned revolution or the infrastucture of the English game - it's down to his employers. Or, more specifically, the money Sky have brought in.

While the English academy system has been a resounding failure, and the national team struggles to match the level the Premiership's foreigners set, its teams will simply perpetuate the league by affording the best the rest of Europe has to offer - from Arsenal's pursuit of raw materials to Chelsea merely going out and throwing money at whichever coach wins the Champions League.

That's why it's the best league in Europe. And why it's set to stay that way for some time yet.

KINGS OF EUROPE: COUNTRIES' PERIODS OF DOMINANCE SPAIN 1956-1962 5 European Cup wins (All Real Madrid) 2 European Cup runners-up (1 Real Madrid, Barcelona) 3 Uefa Cup wins (2 Barcelona, 1 Valencia) 1 Uefa Cup runner-up (Barcelona) 1998-2002 3 European Cup wins (All Real Madrid) 2 European Cup runners-up (Both Valencia) 1 Uefa Cup runner-up (Alaves) 1 Cup Winners Cup runner-up (Mallorca) ITALY 1963-1969 4 European Cup wins (2 AC Milan, 2 Inter Milan) 1 European Cup runner-up (Inter Milan) 1 Uefa Cup win (Juventus) 1 Cup Winners' Cup win (AC Milan) 1989-1998 4 European Cup wins (3 AC Milan, 1 Juventus) 5 European Cup runners-up (2 AC Milan, Juventus, 1 Sampdoria) 7 Uefa Cup wins (3 Inter Milan, 2 Juventus, 1 Napoli, Parma) 6 Uefa Cup runners-up (Juventus, Fiorentina, Roma, Torino, Inter, Lazio) 2 Cup Winners' Cup wins (Sampdoria, Parma) 2 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up (Sampdoria, Parma) HOLLAND 1969-1974 4 European Cup wins (3 Ajax, 1 Feyenoord) 1 European Cup runnerup (Ajax) 1 Uefa Cup wins (Feyenoord) GERMANY 1974-1977 3 European Cup wins (All Bayern Munich) 1 European Cup runner-up (Borussia Monchengladbach) 1 Uefa Cup win (Borussia Monchengladbach) 2 Cup Winners' Cup wins (Magdeburg, Hamburg) ENGLAND 1977-1985 7 European Cup wins (4 Liverpool, 2 Notts Forest, 1 Aston Villa) 1 European Cup runner-up (Liverpool) 2 Uefa Cup wins (Ipswich Town, Tottenham) 1 Cup Winners' Cup win (Everton) 1 Cup Winners' Cup runner-up (Arsenal) 2005-?

1 European Cup win (Liverpool) 1 European Cup runner-up (Arsenal) 1 Uefa Cup runner-up (Middlesbrough)