English football's big six are locked into battle for the four Champions League places on offer. Nobody wants to miss out on Europe's premier club competition as Chelsea and Arsenal have done this season. Liverpool and Manchester City look certain to finish in the top four but Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United won't be taking anything for granted. We assess their prospects of making it. Manchester United's recent revival has fired them back into contention for the top four TOTTENHAM (3rd) 45pts, goal difference +22 Highly inconsistent results has highlighted the lack of summer signings. RECENT FORM You don't know which Tottenham is going to turn up these days. A comprehensive defeat in the north London derby by Arsenal was followed by five consecutive victories, including blitzes against Everton (6-2) and Bournemouth (5-0), and then a damaging 3-1 loss at home to Wolves WEAKNESSES It shouldn't be forgotten Spurs had more players involved in the latter stages of the World Cup than any other team so fatigue could be a factor in the second half of the season, particularly as they are still involved in the Champions League and Carabao Cup. Delays in moving 'home' haven't helped. Tottenham Hotspur will be reliant on Harry Kane's goals with a lack of back up strikers STAR MAN Harry Kane MBE has won two of the last three Premier League Golden Boots and is tied at the top this season with 13. Besides that, he seems to be showing his creative side at the moment as well, his brilliant pass for Dele Alli confirmed Tottenham's Carabao Cup win at Arsenal last month. JANUARY TRANSFER BUSINESS Having failed to sign anyone in the summer, it looks likely Mauricio Pochettino will be allowed to bring in a striker in January. Son Heung-Min will be away this month on international duty with South Korea and Fernando Llorente is surplus to requirements. Toby Alderweireld is set to stay until the summer after Spurs triggered a contract extension UPCOMING FIXTURES Spurs will fancy winning three of their next four league games; New Year's Day's late game against Cardiff, Fulham and Watford. In the middle of those is a huge fixture at home to Manchester United at Wembley. What will concern Mauricio Pochettino is they also have an FA Cup trip to Tranmere and a two-legged Carabao semi-final with Chelsea to contend with in January. Spurs have shown signs of usual flakiness following their collapse in the defeat by Wolves CHELSEA (4th) 43pts, goal difference + 22 Chelsea are grinding out results to stay in touch RECENT FORM Not a lot of thrills and spills but Chelsea have been resolute, particularly on the road where they have picked up maximum points at Brighton, Watford and Crystal Palace. Their excellent form at Stamford Bridge was blotted last time out when they were suprisingly beaten 1-0 by Leicester. WEAKNESSES Maurizio Sarri can't decide what to do up front with Alvaro Morata a huge disappointment since his £60million move from Real Madrid, Olivier Giroud a bit-part player and currently injured, and Eden Hazard preferring to come in off the left rather than play as a 'false 9'. Goals could be an issue. Eden Hazard has kept Maurizio Sarri's Chelsea side competitive near the top of the table STAR MAN Eden Hazard is a live contender to be Player of the Season again and can turn matches on his own. The Belgian hasn't been put off by continued links with Real Madrid, indeed it seems to have made him even better. His dribbling powers have been matched by end product and he's in double figures for goals JANUARY TRANSFER BUSINESS Chelsea will hope to beat Liverpool for the signing of America's best player Christian Pulisic of Borussia Dortmund. His arrival could have a knock-on effect for teenager Callum Hudson-Odoi who is wanted by Bayern Munich. Club skipper Gary Cahill also wants to leave in order to get regular first-team football UPCOMING FIXTURES Chelsea can try to put further distance between them and the chasing pack with home games against Southampton on Wednesday and then Newcastle. A Champions League six-pointer then follows at Arsenal on January 19. Chelsea edged the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge 3-2 in August. The Blues will be on the look out for a striker in January with Alvaro Morata failing to impress ARSENAL (5th) Premier League Premier League Championship League One League Two Scottish Premiership Scottish Div 1 Scottish Div 2 Scottish Div 3 Ligue 1 Serie A La Liga Bundesliga 38 pts, goal difference +12 Unai Emery received a massive wake-up call at Liverpool RECENT FORM The wheels have started to come off Unai Emery's side who have followed a 22-match unbeaten run with only one victory in four games. Their 3-2 defeat at Southampton was bad enough but the defensive holes in Saturday's 5-1 drubbing against Liverpool at Anfield was truly alarming. WEAKNESSES Defensively, Emery's side don't seem to have made a great deal of improvement from Arsene Wenger's time, though the manager can point to a glut of injuries including to first-choice full-backs Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal. Emery hasn't solved the Mesut Ozil riddle, man-of-the-match one week, a passenger or left out the squad the next Unai Emery has made a competent start as Arsenal boss but has not fixed defensive concerns STAR MAN Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has proved himself a finisher of the highest order and is neck-and-neck with Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah at the head of the scoring charts. When Arsenal don't use him, they struggle. He had only 13 touches against Liverpool and six of those were from kick-offs! JANUARY TRANSFER BUSINESS Unai Emery will want to be busy as he tries to rebuild the club in his own mould. It seems Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil have no long-term future so good offers may be considered in January and he'll want to bring in a central defender and midfielder. Fernando Calero of Real Valladolid is believed to be a target UPCOMING FIXTURES The Gunners are entering a difficult period after a New Year's Day derby at home to Fulham. Their next two away games are at West Ham and Manchester City with Chelsea also coming to The Emirates. They end January at home to Cardiff City who have kept two away clean sheets in a row Emery has also struggled to get consistent top form out of playmaker Mesur Ozil MANCHESTER UNITED (6th) 35pts, goal difference +9 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has turned those frowns upside down RECENT FORM Rarely can a new-manager bounce have been more startling than under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. United had a zero goal difference after 17 matches when they sacked Jose Mourinho, it now stands at +9 after thumping wins against Cardiff (5-1), Huddersfield (3-1) and Bournemouth (4-1) WEAKNESSES Solskjaer has mentioned a lack of clean sheets and United have kept only two all season. The centre-halves are constantly rotating, Eric Bailly is suspended after his red card at the weekend, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones always seem to have injury problems, and club captain Antonio Valencia is rarely used these days Paul Pogba is enjoying his football at Manchester United again under new management STAR MAN Paul Pogba has been in dazzling form since the handbrake was released following Mourinho's departure. The Frenchman gave the perfect midfield performance against Bournemouth, controlling the game with his passing and scoring twice with runs into the penalty area that seemed frowned upon under the previous regime JANUARY TRANSFER BUSINESS Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be given a say in signings and the club will be prepared to spend big on a centre-half this month if a deal can be struck for Naploli's Kalidou Koulibaly or Eder Militao of Porto. Leicester's Harry Maguire still wants to go to Old Trafford but his situation is dependent on Leicester dropping their £75million asking price UPCOMING FIXTURES United fans will be confident the surge can continue. They play at Newcastle on Wednesday and while a trip to face Spurs at Wembley on January 13 looks difficult, they follow up with home matches with Brighton and Burnley. February looks tougher with Liverpool visiting Old Trafford. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's arrival at Old Trafford has returned three consecutive victories All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility