Premier League Big Six era now officially ends | OneFootball

The era of the Premier League Bix Six has now ended.

A very interesting piece on the official Premier League website explaining this.

An excellent overview by journalist Alex Keble.

The Premier League Big Six is no longer a thing.

Newcastle United leading the way.

Indeed, Alex Keble suggesting that if anything, it would be better to term it as a ‘Premier League Big Eight’…

Strength of mid-tier clubs marks the end of the ‘Big Six’ era

In five of the eight Premier League seasons between 2014 and 2022, the “Big Six” clubs filled every top-six spot in the table.

The “Big Six” refers to the most successful and powerful sides in Premier League football, comprising Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

In the three years since 2022, not once have those six clubs occupied all of the positions from one to six. In fact, the same number of top-six places have gone to clubs not in the “Big Six” in the last three years as in the previous eight years combined (five).

The historically bad campaigns for both Man Utd and Spurs signal the end of the “Big Six” era, as does Chelsea’s ongoing battle to retain their status alongside the disruptors Newcastle and Aston Villa.

It seems reasonable now to talk about a “Big Eight”, although Brighton & Hove Albion might even challenge that, given they have finished sixth (2022/23) and eighth (2024/25) in two of the last three seasons.

One thing we can say for sure is that a new middle tier of clubs is strong, and capable of permanently upsetting what had looked like a closed shop.

This is partly thanks to the growing financial power of non-“Big Six” clubs compared to those in mainland Europe, leading to first-rate tacticians and UEFA Champions League-standard players arriving at mid-table English teams.