Liverpool top the Premier League table but the defending champions — like all of the traditional big guns — are finding it tough to pull away from an eager pack of contenders.
The stumbles of the “Big Six” have allowed a clutch of unfashionable clubs to dream of overthrowing the established order as Leicester did so dramatically in the 2015/2016 season.
AFP Sport looks at three of the teams who might be eyeing a fairytale end to the 2020/21 campaign, with a third of the season gone.