For the first time in 40 years, Manchester United find themselves in the relegation zone, so when was the last time each of the Big Six were in the bottom three?

United’s 4-4 draw at Aston Villa condemned them to the drop zone for the entirety of the international break.

So we’ve gone back over the history books to find the most recent time each of the Big Six were in the drop zone.

Manchester United – 2026-27, Matchday 10

Thirteen years after their most recent Premier League title, United are now more concerned with leaving the competition than winning it.

Carrick’s team have won one game all season and even that was not without elements of luck.

They have been shockingly poor, the players are arguing with the board in public, Carrick looks out of his depth and mediocrity has become the accepted norm for a club that once held the very highest of standards.

United rescued a point against Villa, but that feels like plugging one hole on the Titanic while there are still several very large holes to deal with.

That draw, coupled with Nottingham Forest’s beating of Manchester City, put United into 18th, the first time United ended a day in the top-flight relegation zone since November 1986.

United probably won’t get relegated (probably) but the fact they will spend the long two weeks of the international break down there is a very visual sign of how far this club has fallen.

Tottenham Hotspur – 2026-27, Matchday 6

If you happened to tune into talkSPORT at any point, you will have been well aware that Spurs were in the bottom three at the start of this season.

Roberto De Zerbi’s team started the year not only without a win but failed to score in the opening four games.

By the third game, they had at least managed to stop conceding them too and had risen to the dizzying heights of 17th come the end of the four-game day.

But a 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa put them down at 20th. Drawing 1-1 with Manchester United – which should put them in the relegation zone automatically – kept them in the bottom three.

But a first win of the season against Everton followed by two more rose Spurs up and away from danger (for now).

They are 11th after their weekend defeat to Leeds, but relegation looks a long way off now.

Arsenal – 2021-22, Matchday 3

Under the watchful eye of Amazon Prime’s cameras, Arteta’s second season in charge did not get off to the best of starts.

They lost the first three games of the year, the latter of which was a 5-0 thumping away at Manchester City and a result that left them dead last in the Premier League table.

Things turned after though and a porous Arsenal defence began to look like the one that is synonymous with the team today.

One goal conceded in the next four matches, with three wins and a draw, pushed Arsenal up the table.

The Gunners then put together a run of three wins to move into the European spots, but they still struggled against their fellow Big Six opponents.

In late November they were pumped 4-0 at Anfield before losing 3-2 to Manchester United a few weeks later.

A 5-0 win away at Norwich on Boxing Day boosted the spirit and a 2-1 defeat against City on New Year’s Day kickstarted a good run for Arteta, putting together five wins in their next six games.

By the end of that, they were fourth and in the Champions League spot but in a very Arsenal way, the wheels fell off.

Four defeats in five put them down to fifth and come the end of the season, Arsenal just missed out on the Champions League.

Chelsea – 2019-20, Matchday 1

2019 was a summer of change for Chelsea. Maurizio Sarri had left to go and smoke cigarettes at Juventus while Eden Hazard moved to Real Madrid.

The Chelsea hierarchy gave the job to Frank Lampard and he was handed the unwanted present of a trip to Old Trafford for his first match in charge.

Marcus Rashford was the star as United recorded their biggest win at home against Chelsea since 1965, beating the London side 4-0 in Lampard’s first Premier League match.

The only team to have a worse start to the year was West Ham, who got battered 5-0 by Manchester City. That meant the Hammers were bottom while Lampard’s Chelsea were 19th.

A draw against Leicester in the next game did not boost too much confidence, but Lampard did manage to turn it around with six wins on the trot.

Chelsea moved into fourth in matchday nine and stayed there seemingly forever, briefly flirting with third near the end of the year but ultimately finishing in the Champions League spots.

Liverpool – 2012-13, Matchday 5

Brendan Rodgers was billed as the next great British manager, but Liverpool’s fans were right to be a little worried when the team started his tenure without a win in their first five.

Liverpool lost every other game to kick off the Rodgers era, including defeats at home to Arsenal and United, leaving them flirting with the relegation zone.

They were in 18th first, third and finally the fifth matchweek before going on an unbeaten run of eight games and moving clear of the drop.

Liverpool would go on to finish seventh that year and kicked on under Rodgers.

Manchester City – 2008-09, Matchday 18

Give it a few months and this may be due an update but for now, the last time City were in the relegation zone was back in 2008 in the first season under the Abu Dhabi ownership.

City, managed by Mark Hughes, started the year badly with a 4-2 defeat away at Aston Villa, which put them 18th, but they did manage to rise to fifth with a few decent results, including a 6-0 win against Portsmouth.

One win in eight games sent them tumbling back down and despite a momentary respite of beating Arsenal 3-0, City’s run of three defeats in four had them 18th at Christmas.

City spent big in January, bringing in Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, Nigel de Jong and Shay Given, which shored them up.

They continued to lose a lot of games in the second half of the year but were able to rise to 10th come the season’s end.

When was the last time a Big Six club was relegated?

Excluding pre-takeover City, which doesn’t really count (2001 if you were wondering), the last Big Six club to go down was Chelsea back in 1988.

The Blues were sent into a relegation playoff against Middlesbrough but lost it 2-1 over two legs and their fans stormed the pitch.

For the pedants out there that say Chelsea pre-takeover also doesn’t count, then you are looking at Tottenham in 1977.

Before that, United went down in 1974, Liverpool in 1954 and Arsenal in 1913.