Premier League title rivals Arsenal and Manchester City have a totally identical record when it comes to their results in matches against ‘big six’ opposition this season, but how have the rest – Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham – fared in the headline matches?
Liverpool had the best record in these games last season, stepping up on the big occasion, a key reason for their title triumph as they did the league double over Manchester City and held chasers Arsenal to draws home and away.
It was only after securing the title with a resounding 5-1 victory over Tottenham that Arne Slot’s Reds finally lost a game to ‘big six’ opposition, losing 3-1 away to Chelsea after a week of celebrations.
Normal service appeared to be resumed as they won their first five outings of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, including a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Arsenal.
But things took a swift and dramatic turn from there, with subsequent defeats to Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City (alongside further shock defeats to Crystal Palace, Brentford and Nottingham Forest).
They showed their pedigree in a hard-fought goalless draw in the return fixture against Arsenal, but their earlier wobbles leave them miles off retaining their Premier League crown.
Arsenal’s narrow defeat at Anfield, thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai’s long-range free-kick, brought an end to their long unbeaten record in such ‘big six’ fixtures.
Before that, they’d gone 22 matches without defeat (13 wins, nine draws) in the league against their fellow ‘big six’, including a 1-0 victory away to Manchester United on the opening weekend of this season.
It’s been something of a reversal since then, with Mikel Arteta’s Gunners maintaining a title challenge by regularly notching routine wins over the rest of the league, while dropping further points against Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea.
Surprisingly enough, both Manchester City and Arsenal have an identical – and not especially sparkling – record in the ‘big six’ clashes this season.
City and Arsenal play one another next week, a fixture that will complete the full round-robin ‘big six’ table for both clubs. It’ll be interesting to see who has the edge in the end – could it prove key to the title in the end?
Manchester United boast the strongest ‘big six’ record in the Premier League this season, having registered statement victories over Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City – the latter two in Michael Carrick’s first two games at the helm – but are a long way off a title challenge due to their failure to dispatch teams in the bottom half of the table under Ruben Amorim.
It’s a stark difference to last season, when the Red Devils had the worst record in the ‘big six’ mini league, having mustered just one win from the 10 matches in 2024-25.
Tottenham, meanwhile, have the worst record, averaging less than a point per game in such matches, but they have taken four points from City this season – once again proving Pep Guardiola’s bogey team.
It’s no surprise to see Spurs at the foot of this table, given their place in the Premier League’s relegation zone. Should they go down, we’ll surely have to rethink the entire concept of the ‘big six’ forever.
Here’s how the ‘big six’ head-to-head table stacks up in full so far in 2025-26, with each team placed in order of their points-per-game:
1. Manchester United
Played: 8
Won: 5
Drawn: 1
Lost: 2
Goals For: 13
Goals Against: 10
Goal difference: +3
Points: 16
Points Per Game: 2.00
=2. Manchester City
Played: 9
Won: 4
Drawn: 3
Lost: 2
Goals For: 15
Goals Against: 9
Goal difference: +6
Points: 15
Points Per Game: 1.67
=2. Arsenal
Played: 9
Won: 4
Drawn: 3
Lost: 2
Goals For: 15
Goals Against: 9
Goal difference: +6
Points: 15
Points Per Game: 1.67
4. Chelsea
Played: 7
Won: 2
Drawn: 2
Lost: 3
Goals For: 7
Goals Against: 10
Goal difference: -3
Points: 8
Points Per Game: 1.14
5. Liverpool
Played: 8
Won: 2
Drawn: 2
Lost: 4
Goals For: 7
Goals Against: 11
Goal difference: -4
Points: 8
Points Per Game: 1.00
6. Tottenham
Played: 9
Won: 1
Drawn: 3
Lost: 5
Goals For: 10
Goals Against: 18
Goal difference: -8
Points: 6
Points Per Game: 0.67
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