Matt Maher: More than ever before this feels like the end of the Premier League 'Big Six'

It’s certainly a question which feels up for debate more than at any other point for the past 15 years.

For some, the answer is clear.

“There is no top six in English football anymore,” Villa’s director of football operations, Damian Vidagany, told a packed room at the club’s end of season awards on Wednesday night.

On Friday afternoon, Unai Emery took the opposite view. Asked if qualifying for the Champions League for a second season would finally put his team on his own oft-repeated list of bigger contenders (Emery always includes Newcastle along with the familiar six), the Villa boss did not miss a beat before answering.