Premier League’s chasing pack can threaten weaker members of ‘big six’ | Jonathan Wilson

04 August 2019 07:00
Everton, Leicester, West Ham and Wolves are building strong identities and deep squads, and could overhaul stragglers among the top flight’s leading half-dozen clubsWhen the Daily Mirror previewed the 1971-72 season with a weary reference to “superclubs”, seemingly the earliest use of the term in English football, the newspaper was talking about Liverpool and Leeds United. Its writer was not saying one of them was guaranteed to claim the league title, which was ultimately won by a Brian Clough-inspired Derby County, but highlighting the advantages of resource and, more specifically, personnel that meant Leeds and Liverpool would at least be challenging for honours.Times change and expectations with them. It would be a major surprise if anybody other than Liverpool threatened Manchester City this season. We may talk of a Big Six these days, defined largely by infrastructure, but few give four of them much hope of winning the Premier League. Related: Premier League 2019-20 preview No 9: Leicester City No 1: ArsenalNo 2: Aston VillaNo 3: BournemouthNo 4: Brighton & Hove AlbionNo 5: BurnleyNo 6: ChelseaNo 7: Crystal PalaceNo 8: EvertonNo 9: Leicester CityNo 10: LiverpoolNo 11: Manchester CityNo 12: Manchester UnitedNo 13: Newcastle UnitedNo 14: Norwich CityNo 15: Sheffield UnitedNo 16: SouthamptonNo 17: Tottenham HotspurNo 18: WatfordNo 19: West Ham UnitedNo 20: Wolverhampton Wanderers Related: Premier League 2019-20 preview No 8: Everton Continue readingreadfullarticle

Source: TheGuardian