The Premier League ‘Big Six’ Faces Renewed Debate Over Club Rankings
The venerated, celebrated and often downright hated Premier League ‘Big Six’ has been called into debate numerous times since its unofficial inception. Shouldn’t a team like Everton, Newcastle or Aston Villa be in there? Do they all deserve their spot? In these six seasons, the debate had never been fiercer.
Today, we’ll be looking at each of the big six’s worst campaigns during the Premier League era. In case you needed a reminder, the clubs in the big six are Arsenal-endrick-transfer-news/” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Arsenal, Liverpool/” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur and this is not referring to their League position of course.
Arsenal – 1994/95
In the pre-Arsene Wenger era, Arsenal were practically unrecognisable compared with the club that they are today. George Graham had brought them success in years prior, but by the time 1994 came around, he had largely run out of steam at Highbury.
While results declined, Graham became embroiled in controversy off the pitch. He was found to have accepted a bribe to the tune of £425,000 (£956,000 in today’s money) from football agent Rune Hauge amid the acquisition of John Jensen and Pal Lydersen. For this indiscretion, he was sacked and given a one-year ban by the FA.
Arsenal’s exploits on the field noticeably suffered as a result. They finished 12th in the league table, were knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Millwall and were beaten in the finals of both the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the European Super Cup.
Chelsea – 2022/23
Chelsea have had technically lesser seasons than this, but they all came before the arrival of Roman Abramovich (and later, Todd Boehly) – given the resources at their disposal in 2022/23, there can be no excuses for a campaign as pitiful as this one.
Featuring no less than three managers (four if you count Bruno Saltor), Chelsea’s season took a swift nosedive following the sacking of Thomas Tuchel after the first six league games of the campaign.
In particular, Graham Potter struggled immensely. He oversaw 11 Premier League losses in under eight months – club legend Frank Lampard performed even worse, winning just one of their final 12 league games of the season.
Liverpool – 1993/94
Graeme Souness, as a player, is one of the most beloved legends in Liverpool’s rich history. As a manager, however, his legendary status is up for debate. Despite winning an FA Cup in 1992, he led the Reds into a dead end in 1993/94.
Their previous season had been a struggle – many of their former stars were aging and their reinforcements did little to offset their dwindling contributions. Despite a solid start to the season, Liverpool went on a four-game losing streak in September during which they failed to score a single league goal.
After they were dumped out of the FA Cup in the third round by Bristol City, Souness resigned – his replacement, Roy Evans, was unable to pick up the pieces before the end of the season. As a result, the Reds won just two of their last nine games, finishing eighth in the league table – they were beneath Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday and Wimbledon after all was said and done.
Manchester City – 1997/98
Out of all the big six seasons in our list, none of them have been remotely as miserable as Manchester City’s cataclysmic 1997/98 season. Having been relegated to the Championship in 1996, City fans were hopeful of a return to the top flight. They wouldn’t be in the Championship anymore by 1998/99 – but they’d gone in the wrong direction.
City won two of their first 12 Championship games, which included draws against Tranmere Rovers and Bury. Injuries to Uwe Rosler and Lee Bradbury did little to help matters – despite their gigantic playing squad, City were unable to put together a run of results as they remained towards the bottom end of the table.
Notably, they often struggled against their relegation rivals. They could only take a point off Reading, who finished 24th – meanwhile, Stoke City, who were also relegated, beat them at Maine Road towards the start of the season. They would beat the Potters on the final day of the campaign, but by then, it was already too late. Who would’ve guessed they’d win the Premier League title just 14 years later?
Manchester United – 2024/25
We all know the Manchester United story in the Premier League era. Once the most dominant team in the division under Alex Ferguson, the Red Devils have overseen a period of decline since his departure in 2013. However, none of the post-Fergie seasons were quite as miserable as 2024/25.
After Erik ten Hag won the FA Cup in 2024, their fortunes looked to have changed, but they were quickly brought back down to Earth. They won their first game of the season, but then suffered back-to-back losses, including a 3-0 home defeat against bitter rivals Liverpool.
Ten Hag was sacked in October, only to be replaced by Ruben Amorim. Amorim’s time in charge of United was widely panned – he led them to finish 15th in the league table and also lost the Europa League final to fellow strugglers Tottenham.
Tottenham Hotspur – 2025/26
We know this season isn’t over yet, but one would be hard-pressed to find a Tottenham campaign as poor as this. They were very poor last season, but they at least had a Europa League trophy to show for it – this season, they may very well be relegated.
Former Brentford boss Thomas Frank proved to be a poor appointment, eventually getting sacked in February after an eight-game winless run. His successor, Igor Tudor, made things even worse – by the time he was replaced by Roberto De Zerbi, Spurs were firmly in a relegation battle.
At the time of writing, Spurs are still in the relegation zone. It remains to be seen if they’ll climb out of the bottom three – but whatever transpires, this has been Spurs’ worst season in decades.