The Premier League’s traditional ‘Big 6’ - you know who they are - currently occupy the top-six places in the standard table, shock.
7th-placed Wolves, who have enjoyed an excellent season back in the big time, are 13 points adrift of Chelsea in 6th, while it’s not out of the question that either Liverpool and/or Man City could finish the season with double the amount of points as the club that eventually secures 7th spot - otherwise known as ‘the best of the rest’.
Last season City became the first club in the Premier League era to reach the 100 point landmark, a whopping 46 points clear of Burnley who exceeded all expectations by cementing 7th.
The top-flight now makes its eagerly anticipated return, and with seven/eight waves of fixtures left there’s still all to play for in both the race for the title, and the fight for a top-four finish.
This weekend’s stand-out fixture, in relation to both the above categories, is the duel between Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham, who lock horns at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
The match is one of five remaining ‘Big 6’ clashes, which brings us to the current ‘Big 6’ mini table...
...It’s Man City who lead the way on 19 points from eight games to date, six of which they’ve won. The only defeat came at Chelsea back in December. Pep Guardiola’s remaining ‘Big 6’ games are at home to Spurs, then away to Man Utd, which promises to be an enthralling encounter on Wednesday 24th April.
Such is City’s dominance in this category that the next highest-placed team, Liverpool, are a sizeable six points behind, meaning that the Manchester side only need a point from their two remaining games to secure top spot - although they could even lose both matches and win on goal difference.
The Reds have three wins and four draws so far. The club’s sole defeat was to City in early January, which remains their only league loss this season.
Arsenal are located in 3rd spot, albeit Unai Emery’s men have played all of their 10 ‘Big 6’ fixtures, collecting 12 points in the process, meaning they could drop a place or two.
Chelsea are a further point behind in 4th, but while they became the first Premier League team to beat City in December, Maurizio Sarri’s side then slumped to a shambolic 6-0 defeat to the Citizens a couple of months later - the Blues’ worst loss since 1991.
Tottenham may be 3rd in the actual table but they haven’t fared too well against the fellow big guns, registering seven points from eight games, although it’s Man Utd are rooted to the bottom of the table with just six points and one win from eight fixtures to date.
However, it’s worth noting that United are the only ‘Big 6’ side to make a managerial change this season, replacing Jose Mourinho with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before Christmas, a position which was made permanent on Thursday.
But, while Mourinho could only scrape two points from a possible 15, Solskjaer has taken four points from three games, and still has games against City and Chelsea through to the end of the season.
Remaining ‘Big 6’ Clashes
Liverpool v Spurs - Sunday 31st March
Liverpool v Chelsea - Sunday 14th April
Man City v Spurs - Saturday 20th April
Man Utd v Man City - Wednesday 24th April
Man Utd v Chelsea - Sunday 28th April
