Top 6 Mini League

Given the paucity of the teams from 7th-20th was just looking at the record of the Top 6 in the last 3 years and how they fare against each other.

Now obviously a lot has been said about how the clashes between the top 6 teams will determine final league positions but I think it will only have influence in some cases and have no effect in other cases.

I have considered clashes in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Chelsea 14 wins, 10 draws and 7 losses = 52 points
Liverpool 13 wins 9 draws and 8 losses = 48 points
Man utd 11 wins, 9 draws and 10 losses= 42 points
Man city 10 wins, 6 draws and 14 losses= 36 points
Tottenham 8 wins, 10 draws and 13 losses=34 points
Arsenal 6 wins 14 draws and 10 losses=32 points

Obviously Chelsea's win yesterday deflated a lot of fans of the other top 6 teams and I also felt the media were hit hard as they were really hoping for the blues to drop points so that they could roll out the chelsea in crisis narrative which was simmering on friday night and saturday morning.

There is something different about Conte as a manger and his ability to keep a cool head will see chelsea over the line.Even Chelseas turn around from the Arsenal and Liverpool defeats is very impressive and almost unprecedented for a manager in his first season in a new league.

Coming back to the results between the Top 6 you can already see where Liverpools problems are. Even with Klopp at the helm I am never convinced they put away the small teams. The come back wins for the saints last season and bournemouth this season tells you everything you need to know about Liverpool. Contrast that to Chelsea and the way they never look like losing against the bottom 14.Even with the 1-0 wins in December or yesterday against Leicester I never felt they would lose the game.

Arsenal is a very curious case because its our home record that is very poor. We rarely lose but we rarely win either. 14 draws most of those at home. We have to home games left against United and City and I reckon we will draw against united. But thats the genius of Wenger that with such a terrible record that stretches back 10 years he has consistently found a way to finish in the Top 4 while Chelsea have finished outside the Top 4 twice in the last 5 years and Liverpool pretty much all the time.

Spurs have really only become relevant in the last 2 years but there isnt much to take from those stats until they break into the Top 4 consistently. City is another club like Arsenal with a poor record against the Top teams but always in the Top 4.

The Chelsea results against the Top 6 will be of significance only to the title race which I personally think is over due to their 7 point advantage but for positions 2-4 it comes down to consistently collecting points against the bottom 14 teams.

I remember Liverpool went on a run last season prior to the league cup final and United aswell under LVG last season but eventually dropped points to the bottom teams saw both teams finish outside the Top 4. The league cup and Europa has a huge impact on this Top 4 race and I think it will have a say again this season.