Three English minnows in the battle for the cups: with the favourites floundering, hopes are high in London and on the south coast

Surprisingly, it is not only Newcastle who can anchor themselves in the elite seven of the Premier League guaranteeing European Cups this season. Three other teams – Fulham, Brighton and Brentford – are also on track for historic success before the halfway point of the season.

The path to the Top 7 for all three teams is significantly complicated by Newcastle’s form. The latter scored last time out against first-placed Arsenal and remains in third place. So Brighton, Brentford or Fulham will probably need to leapfrog one of the Big Six teams to achieve historic success.

Fulham – with the biggest killer

Fulham are currently the best placed of the three. Seventh place belongs to them thanks to three post-Christmas wins and also thanks to Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Serbian thug is the league’s fourth top scorer with 11 shots.

Anyway, Fulham is a newcomer and its defence is not up to playing for cups in the long run. The Cottagers will probably be happy with a top 10 finish, but Mitrovic showed last year that he is unstoppable. He can shoot for the cups on his own, but he’d have to really shoot for it!

Ranking tip:: 13th place

Brighton – the most balanced line-up

Only one point worse is Brighton, who also have one game in hand. The Seagulls are doing well even without Graham Potter, mainly because they have quality in all positions. The defence is a combination of youngsters with experience, the midfield is pulled by Moises Caicedo with Alexis Mac Allister and Solly March.

In attack, Kauro Mitoma has unexpectedly caught the eye alongside star Leandro Trossard and 18-year-old Evan Ferguson in December. Clearly the most complete team of the trio even with experience in Lewis Dunk or Adam Lallana.

9th place

Brentford – the biggest domestic force

The ninth-placed Bees are two points behind Fulham, but their form is a big scare. They took seven points from games against Tottenham, West Ham and Liverpool, before winning at Manchester City. Of the big six teams, only Arsenal have beaten them.

Brentford have also long relied on a home crowd that is one of the most boisterous in the competition. Ivan Toney still scored one more goal than Mitrovic, but the game doesn’t depend on him that much, which after all was shown in the last game against Liverpool.

11th place

Source: Premier League