Liverpool Top “Big Six” Mini-League With Three Games to Spare

Last night, Bruno Fernandes converted from the spot in the 81st minute to save a point for Manchester United against Tottenham Hotspur. It was their 10th and final match against the “Big Six”—Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Spurs—and they’ve fared well this season against their other big-money competitors.

United have earned 18 points from their 10 matches in the Big Six mini-league. Ordinarily, earning nearly 2 points per game against other top sides is a good haul.

Liverpool have 19 points against the Big Six. In 7 matches.

The Big Six aren’t having a stellar season as a whole. Chelsea are rebuilding with a young squad and new manager, and have been massively inconsistent throughout the campaign. Arsenal and Spurs each had to fire their respective managers mid-season and look set to miss out on Europe altogether. Even Manchester City cannot seem to string together more than 2 or 3 good results before shitting the bed.

Liverpool, on the other hand, have been phenomenal. 27 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss against the league. 6 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses against the Big Six.

Of course there’s no trophy for “winning” the Big Six mini-league. This is all in an effort to get the trophy we really want, but it shows just how good these Reds have been. They’ve topped their other Big Six competitors with 3 games to play; it’s nothing short of absolute domination.

In addition to going unbeaten against the traditional top six, Liverpool also did the double against 3rd-placed Leicester City, 6th-placed Sheffield United, and 7th-placed Wolves.

It’s difficult to come up with new ways of describing just how great these Reds have been this season. But perhaps the most impressive thing about this side is how good they’ve been against other good teams when it counts.

We’ve seen plenty of Liverpool sides over the years “play down” to teams fighting against relegation, only to raise their game when the Manchester Uniteds or Arsenals of the world come to town. The current United side is having one of those seasons. Instead, Liverpool are having a title-winning campaign for the ages, playing with machine-like consistency against all comers, big and small.

There’s still a job left to do. If Liverpool do what they should and win the next two matches against midtable sides Everton and Crystal Palace, the rest of their results—including the three against the Big Six—won’t matter at all.