The death of the Premier League’s ‘big 6’

On the 4th of August 2008, Manchester City was bought by Sheikh Mansour. They were Premier League winners four years later under Roberto Mancini.

Within that time since the takeover, City finished tenth, eighth and fifth before eventually being crowned champions of England in the most dramatic of circumstances. Money has proven not to be an automatic level raiser; there is a process where a new regime has to learn the ropes and spend wisely to build a title-challenging side. There are dumb decisions and signings that are made when a club gets money and success doesn’t come right away as a result. However, Newcastle might be breaking that rule.

The Magpies were dead last in the Premier League when they were purchased by the Saudi investment fund in October 2021 before improving dramatically to finish 11th. There are several different factors to this rise and obviously, it starts with the investments made in the January window after the takeover. Signing players like longtime Arsenal target Bruno Guimarães raised the level of the squad tremendously while sacking Steve Bruce and bringing in Eddie Howe was also a massive game-changer for the Magpies.

Howe has proven to be a great manager for Newcastle in taking them to the next level to compete in the top half of the league with them entering the second half of the season in third place, a far cry from where they were when he took over.

The rise of Newcastle has happened much faster than was expected and the Magpies are already threatening the institution of the Premier League’s “big six.”

Newcastle’s rise is obviously bad news for Arsenal and the rest of the so-called ‘Big Six’. Any time a team comes around to challenge the existing powers it will be scary, but it is good for the Premier League. The competitiveness of the division is only getting stronger, and this is shown by mid-table sides – or even those battling against relegation – appointing borderline world-class managers.

The Premier League is already a very tough league where no win is guaranteed and it will continue to get harder as more money gets injected into mid-table clubs and more of the world’s best players and coaches come to England.

Newcastle’s eventual coronation among the Premier League’s elite teams will up the arms race even further in England. Top four becomes an even more challenging goal to achieve with now more than seven teams vying for those coveted Champions League spots. Adding that to the ‘best of the rest’ of the Premier League each season and it will continue to be tougher and tougher with even more English clubs getting invested into and being destinations for the world’s best managers and players.

So what does this raising of the arms race mean for Arsenal? It means that to remain competitive for the highest honours, the Gunners will have to do whatever it takes to retain top talent like Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba.

For Arsenal, the increased competitiveness of the Premier League is a rather ominous prospect, but Mikel Arteta has a structure in place to ensure the Gunners can not only stay afloat in the coming years, but thrive.