The Traditional Premier League Top Six Under Threat

Football has changed so much over the years and it’ll continue to change with each and every passing day – and the same is especially true for English football.

While there are certain arguments that can be made against it, we’d say it’s fairly obvious that the Premier League is the top division in world football, and especially Europe. The main piece of proof for that comes in the form of the Europa League and Champions League both featuring finalists exclusively from England.

Beyond that, there are quite a lot of things that can be said for the perceived ‘top six’ in the league. The teams involved in this group are Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Over the years we’ve seen variations of these six doing pretty damn well for themselves in the top flight and across a series of other competitions. However, the whole point of this piece is to point out the fact that the status quo appears to be slowly but surely changing as time goes on.

This season especially we’ve seen plenty of teams rise up and make their presence known within those top six positions and it doesn’t seem like that trend is going to be slowing down anytime soon.

While many teams can claim to be in the mix, we’ve picked out four that not only feel like contenders this season, but also have what it takes to keep this momentum up in the next few years.

Leicester City

Leicester are all but guaranteed to be one of the four teams that finishes in the top four and qualifies for the Champions League this season, which is a crazy achievement after such a short period of time in charge for Brendan Rodgers.

Everyone thought their title winning campaign was a fluke a few years back, but they continue to prove that they have what it takes to keep hanging around for a while yet.

Sheffield United

The Blades are an impressive side within their own right and in many ways, their achievements this season are even more impressive than Leicester’s.

They have quite literally come out of nowhere and right now, they’re sitting in 5th place above Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United. Chris Wilder has been able to assemble one hell of a team and it’s great to see them doing so well.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves have done a magnificent job of juggling the Premier League and the Europa League so far this season and while they may have a thin squad, we think they’re more than capable of making a push for the top four – and definitely the top six.

They may run out of steam if they carry on in the Europa League, but one thing is for sure: they’ll be here to stay towards the top of the Premier League table for many years to come.

Everton

Carlo Ancelotti has come in and completely changed the game for the Toffees. They’ve gone from a team that seems like relegation contenders to one that could legitimately finish in the top six this season.

If they can continue to strengthen during the summer transfer window, then who knows where they could be in twelve months time.