Can anyone crash the party atop the Premier League?

The Premier League is back, but will any party crashers show up and turn the table upside down?

Never before has the elite level of the Premier League been such a closed shop. In each of the last three seasons Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United and Tottenham have occupied in the top six places. This, in the history of English soccer’s modern top flight, is the first time this has ever happened.

Indeed, The Big Six have had a tight grip on the Premier League in recent years. Leicester City might have crashed the party as recently as 2016, but their triumph already feels like the relic of a bygone age. Arsenal and Man Utd endured dismal campaigns last season and still managed to finish fifth and sixth respectively. The gulf these past few years between the best and the rest has been vast.

This season, however, could see The Big Six, at least some of them, caught. Ambitious summer business by a number of clubs has seen the likelihood of someone other than one of the usual suspects pulling up a seat at the Premier League’s top table this season. The elite might not be so untouchable.

Last season’s seventh-placed side, Wolves, are among those looking to crash the party. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were highly impressive in their top flight season since their promotion from the Championship, but while many promoted teams suffer what’s known as ‘second season syndrome,’ Wolves look likely to improve further.

Close to £90 million has been spent by the West Midlands outfit. Some of that money has gone on securing two of last season’s loan stars (Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker) on permanent contracts, but they have also spent big in signing Pedro Neto from Lazio and most bullishly, Patrick Cutrone from AC Milan.

Leicester City are another club with their sights on the top six this season. The Foxes lost Harry Maguire to Man Utd earlier this week, but they have still spent big and in Brendan Rodgers boast one of the best coaches in the European game. Last season for the Northern Irishman was about getting settled in his new surroundings, appointed midway through the campaign. This season will see him mould Leicester in his own image.

Then there’s West Ham. The London club have, in recent years, been maligned for their reckless spending, spending hundreds of millions yet getting nowhere. This summer, however, there has been a change. The Hammers have more of a strategy which has led them to make a number of shrewd pick-ups, signing Sebastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt and Pablo Fornals from Villarreal.

Everton, however, have put the most into breaking the Premier League’s glass ceiling. Long in the shadow of their more illustrious city rivals Liverpool, the Toffees have come into money of late. Serious money. Owner Farhad Moshiri has big plans for the club. A new stadium will be built by 2023, for instance. Right now, though, his millions have been splurged on the transfer market.

At times Everton’s strategy has seemed somewhat scattergun. The final few days of the summer window saw them make bids for Wilfried Zaha, Alex Iwobi and Chris Smalling, almost as if the bank notes were burning a hole through their pocket. Nonetheless, Everton’s spending this summer has the potential to push them over the edge and into the elite level.

Moise Kean is the most impressive of their summer additions. Billed as one of Italy’s brightest young talents, the Toffees were able to lure the striker to Merseyside. On top of this, the addition of Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Fabian Delph and Djibril Sidibe has fleshed out Marco Silva’s squad ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.

The new Premier League season arrives in a state of contraction, of paradox. On one hand, never before have The Big Six been so dominant. And yet on the other hand, never before has the probability of at least one of them being knocked from their perch by one of numerous aspiring teams seemed so strong.