FM 19 EXPERIMENT: Where would a team of players from outside the Premier League's top six finish?

We wanted to know where a team consisting of the best players from outside the Premier League’s top six would finish in the table, so we asked Football Manager 19 to do it for us.

David Cameron was still Prime Minister, Drake’s One Dance was top of the charts and nobody had a clue what Brexit was the last time a team other than Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal or the two Manchester clubs finished outside the top six in the Premier League.

Leicester City stunned the football world by winning the league that year, but since then the top six has gone unmoved and we’re getting bored of it.

Last week we asked you to tell us which players from the Premier League would get into an ‘alternative’ Team of the Year, consisting of players playing for clubs outside the coveted top six.

You voted on mass and this is what the team looked like:

So, having listened to your brilliant insight (and just wanting to have a bit of fun too), we fired up everybody’s favourite procrastination tool, Football Manager, and began an assault on rattling the Premier League’s establishment by gaining a seat at the top table – enter Top Six Football Club.

The club:

Established in 2019 (obviously), Top Six F.C. are a team filled with the best players from clubs outside of the Premier League’s top six.

From young starlets like Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Richarlason, to seasoned pros like Ben Foster and Glenn Murray, the squad itself is brimming with talent.

Entering the league in the place of Huddersfield Town, as they are one of two teams not to have any players selected for this fantasy squad, Top Six F.C.’s aim for the season was to, yes you guessed it, finish in the top six. *Insert Compare the Market ‘simples’ soundbite*.

Early games:

After months of anticipation in the footballing world, it was finally time for Top Six F.C. to take to the pitch and their campaign started off with a tricky trip to Leicester City.

Despite going behind early on in the game, the Top Sixers (as they are apparently known now) bounced back with a Raul Jimenez equaliser and that was how that one finished. A rather mediocre 1-1 draw in the first ever competitive fixture for the club.

A tight 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester City was followed up by a comfortable 3-0 victory against Brighton and heading into the first international break of the year, Top Six F.C. were displaying form which might just see them achieve their goal.

But things were to come crashing back down to Earth fairly quickly: a winless September saw Top Six F.C. lose four out of four of their games in that time, conceding 13 goals in the process and were on the wrong end of a cup upset, after being knocked out of the League Cup by League One Charlton Athletic.

The club were languishing in the lower reaches of the Premier League table and weren’t scoring the goals they desperately required to push on and make improvements.

It was at this time in which the Top Six F.C. manager, Ralph-Nuno Benitez-Gracia (no prizes for guessing where we got that name from) switched from a conventional 4-4-2 formation, to the more robust 4-2-3-1 setup, in an attempt to control possession and dominate the midfield a bit more.

A turn in fortune:

The switch worked wonders and after having just come off the back of a four game losing streak, Top Six F.C. only lost once in their next five – a run which saw important scalps taken against Burnley and Wolves, the latter who were struggling having had the most players taken away from them at the start of this experiment.

But even a selection of the Premier League’s best strikers wasn’t enough to ensure goals for the side and the Top Sixers struggled to settle on a number one striker, regularly chopping and changing between the likes of Diogo Jota, Callum Wilson, Jamie Vardy and Josh King.

And it was their lack of goals which left the side unstuck in the matches against ‘bigger teams’ – Top Six F.C. failed to score in consecutive matches against Liverpool and Tottenham, losing both 2-0.

There was some success to cheer about, however: a Felipe Anderson wondergoal against Arsenal and an impressive string of results in December saw Top Six F.C. climb the ladder and establish themselves comfortably in mid-table. Things were looking up.

A club in turmoil:

As the new year came around and the January transfer window opened, the entire existence of the club (and the experiment) was hanging by a thread.

Due to the ridiculously high wage bill generated from having so many top footballers on your books, coupled with the child-like impatience of modern day footballers, Top Six F.C. were staring player revolts and administration in the face.

Despite the club being in turmoil off the pitch, surprisingly the results on it improved: Top Six F.C. went unbeaten in the league, even managing to pick up a point away at the Etihad Stadium. The only disappointment from January was a fourth round exit of the FA Cup, making any silverware for the newly formed club an impossible task.

Now safe from insolvency thanks to a cash injection from the incredibly kind and generous board (i.e. ourselves), the Top Sixers had broken into the league’s top 10 for the first time since August, and with some huge fixtures coming up, the dream of breaking into the top six was starting to look possible.

Putting together a run:

February got off to a cracking start for Top Six F.C. – a 1-0 triumph at home to Premier League leaders Chelsea was the statement this revitalised side needed.

Disappointment followed the week after however with a loss to relegation threatened Fulham – a defeat which would turn out to be the clubs’ last of the season.

A run of four consecutive wins followed for the Top Sixers – a record for this fledgling club – including an emphatic 3-0 win over Tottenham and the team were now sitting pretty in 9th. A huge turnaround from the early season worries, but there was still work to be done.

With a top six finish now well within their reach, Ralph-Nuno Benitez-Gracia highlighted the double header against Arsenal and Liverpool as two crucial matches. If the club wanted to achieve the seemingly impossible and finish inside the Premier League’s top six, they knew they had to take points off these two.

It wasn’t to be unfortunately, and whilst the Top Sixers did avoid defeat against the two, they were unable to make ground on the coveted top six, drawing both matches. Top Six F.C. now sat nine points off the leading pack, with only a handful of games remaining.

All was not lost however. With Liverpool and Chelsea both reaching the FA Cup final, it was confirmed that seventh spot in the league would now gain a spot in next seasons’ Europa League. Top Six F.C. now had something to work towards and had five games to achieve it in.

The run-in:

It was a disappointing start to the Top Sixers attempt to gain European qualification, as the club conceded late on to draw at home to Watford.

However they kept fighting and bounced back with an important win on the road against fellow seventh place chasing rivals Bournemouth.

They followed this up with an emphatic victory against Manchester United, thanks to an Abdoulaye Doucoure 90th minute winner, in what turned out to be one of the games of the season – a win that put Top Six F.C. within touching distance of Europe.

The Top Sixers sat in seventh place, with a three point lead and only two games remaining.

Dreams of European awaydays were put on hold when a last gasp Michael Keane equaliser earnt Everton a draw in Top Six F.C’s final home game of the season.

But after news filtered through after the final whistle that Bournemouth had lost, it was confirmed, the Top Sixers were going on a European tour.

A final day victory against Cardiff strengthened Top Six F.C.’s points tally further, and after 38 games we finally had our answer: a team consisting of the best players from outside England’s top six clubs would finish seventh. You honestly couldn’t write this stuff (mainly because you wouldn’t).