Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham. For most of the past 15 years that list has been shorthand for the top end of the Premier League, and the clubs in it have usually earned the label. Look at the current table and the shorthand stops working. Tottenham are second bottom on three points without a win in six. Manchester United are 13th. Liverpool are ninth. Brighton, Brentford and Everton are all in the top six.
The numbers have been drifting for a while
Between 2010-11 and 2018-19 the six finished in the top six positions five times, in the top seven twice and the top eight once. The gap behind them was enormous: during the three seasons that followed Leicester's title win, the smallest deficit between sixth and seventh was eight points. Leicester looked like the exception that proved the rule.
Since then, the six have all finished in the top six in only one of the last six seasons. Aston Villa, Newcastle and Brighton have taken places off them. Chelsea and United have missed out twice each since 2021-22, and Tottenham three times, including two 17th-placed finishes. Five of the top six places over the past three years have gone to clubs outside the traditional group, which matches the total from the preceding eight years combined.
Money moved, and so did method
Part of this is simply other clubs catching up financially. Newcastle were bought in a £305m takeover led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in 2021, went from 11th to fourth in a season and finished fifth two years after that.
Brighton took a different route, and their trading record explains most of it. Moises Caicedo cost £4m from Independiente del Valle in 2021 and went to Chelsea two years later in a deal worth £115m, a British record at the time. Marc Cucurella came in at £15m and left for £62m. Alexis Mac Allister cost £7m and was sold to Liverpool in a deal worth £55m.
Sporting director Mike Cave is keen that nobody reduces it to spreadsheets. "The data element of it gets a lot of attention because going back a few years it was quite novel in comparison to some other clubs," he told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily. "Really it's just a component of a bigger process that goes on. It's an important component, it helps us to identify talent from around the world in quite an efficient way which allows us to move quickly in what is a really competitive transfer market."
Sacking managers is expensive in ways that do not show up on a balance sheet
The other half of the story is churn. Since the start of 2020-21, Chelsea have had seven permanent managers, Tottenham six and Manchester United four. Arsenal appointed Mikel Arteta in 2019, kept him through the bad years and won the title last season. That is not a coincidence anybody at the other three clubs will enjoy reading.
None of which means the label is dead. In revenue terms the six are all still inside the top 10 highest-earning clubs in world football, and the next champion will probably still come from among them. But English football has reshuffled its hierarchy before: a 'Big Five' at the league's formation in 1992, a 'Big Two' when United and Arsenal were trading titles, a 'Big Four' once Chelsea and Liverpool settled into the Champions League places. Four years have now passed since the current six last occupied the top six together. On the evidence of this season, it will be five.
Context: The top six was first made up of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham in 2010-11, repeating in 2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. Figures and quotes via BBC Sport and BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily, 16 October 2026.
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