Danny Welbeck is set to become the eighth player to play for three or more of the Premier League’s Big Six when he makes his Chelsea debut.

None of the previous seven had Manchester United on their list of former clubs, so Welbeck has already broken one pattern.

Chelsea will now hope the former Arsenal forward can overturn another trend by becoming more warmly remembered at Stamford Bridge than at any of his other clubs.

Arsenal 1997-99
Liverpool 2001-02
Manchester City 2002-05
Chelsea 2008-12

A Double winner with Arsenal, a Premier League champion and Golden Boot winner with Chelsea, a club-record signing at Manchester City and the source of one of Steven Gerrard’s most intense Liverpool frustrations, Nicolas Anelka spent much of his varied career in search of a settled home, and he came nearest to that during his sporadic spells in England.

The Frenchman has often spoken about regretting his early departure from Arsenal, having shone so brightly as a teenager that he drew interest from Real Madrid; he remains one of the Gunners’ biggest ever sales.

After a short loan spell at Liverpool, a pre-takeover Manchester City made his return to English football permanent. In return, Anelka scored in the final Manchester derby at Maine Road, grabbed a stoppage-time winner at Anfield and handed Jose Mourinho his first defeat as Chelsea manager.

His spell at Stamford Bridge was his most productive, but his legacy there is complicated and includes the least memorable miss for Chelsea in the 2008 Champions League final penalty shoot-out.

Most loved by: Probably Manchester City overall, from the days when the Big Six was barely even a Big Four and was probably closer to just a Big Two.

Liverpool 2012-15
Manchester City 2015-22
Chelsea 2022-26
Arsenal 2024-25

A “massive Manchester United fan” while growing up, Raheem Sterling – like Anelka – still has not added either United or Tottenham to his Big Six journey.

Only a remarkable revival at the age of 31 would alter that now, but the weight of evidence from roughly the last four years suggests he may not be on the INEOS radar or on Roberto De Zerbi’s transfer shortlist.

He is still a free agent after ending his Chelsea bomb squad exile with a few underwhelming months at Feyenoord. Sterling’s move to Stamford Bridge in the first place has come to be viewed as one of the worst player decisions in modern history, such was the level he had previously reached at Manchester City.

A convenient loan move to Arsenal is neatly summed up by the fact he scored once in 28 appearances, while any bridges back to Liverpool were burned long ago.

Most loved by: Manchester City, because of the trophies and goals.

Chelsea 2001-06
Arsenal 2006-10
Tottenham 2010-13

A genuinely outstanding defender, William Gallas built an excellent central defensive partnership with John Terry under Claudio Ranieri, but Jose Mourinho perhaps summed up his main qualities better than anyone:

“He’s the kind of player that when you have him in your squad, instead of having 22, you have 24 or 25. He plays right-back, left-back, central defender on the right and on the left. I don’t remember a William mistake, I just remember his untouchable performances.”

Arsenal fans are more likely to recall his p*ss-boiling shirt number, misguided captaincy and the line-crossing move to Spurs. It even ended on a sour note at Chelsea for a player who never quite mastered the art of making a quiet exit.

Most loved by: Spurs, purely on the technicality that he did not stage a one-man on-pitch protest there or allegedly threaten to score own goals.

Arsenal 2002-09
Manchester City 2009-13
Liverpool 2013-16

An Invincible. One of the earliest players to appear to take a step down by joining a rising Manchester City side. Then a cult-hero elder statesman who came close to completing an unprecedented Premier League title hat-trick with Liverpool.

Kolo Toure also earned extra goodwill at Arsenal for falling out with Gallas, and more credit for helping convince his younger brother Yaya to join him at the Etihad, while there are surely real plans somewhere to build a statue of his salmon tackle outside Anfield.

Most loved by: Everyone. As a wise man once said: “Kolo, Kolo, Kolo.”

Manchester City 2006-09
Chelsea 2009-13
Liverpool 2013-19

Taking inspiration from Anelka by also adding Bolton and West Brom to his career list – though sadly not PSG or Real Madrid – Daniel Sturridge could hardly have ended up with a more different reputation from Le Sulk.

Much of that has been cultivated in his post-playing career, but Sturridge was at his devastating best when carefully managed and used mainly to display his outrageous finishing and trademark wavy-arm celebrations.

Arsenal fan Sturridge scored more goals in that absurd 2013/14 Premier League season than he managed across six-and-a-half largely bit-part campaigns with Chelsea and Manchester City combined.

Still loved by: Liverpool.

Looking back, it is difficult to escape the idea that Emmanuel Adebayor spent his first five years in England scoring lots of goals against Spurs while somehow also laying the groundwork for a move to White Hart Lane.

He even scored twice against Spurs while on loan at Real Madrid from Manchester City, and he has more North London Derby goals against Spurs than Thierry Henry or Ian Wright.

Yet he also fought with team-mate Nicklas Bendtner late in a 5-1 League Cup defeat at the Lane, allegedly tried to punch Frank Lampard in the face during a League Cup final, with both denying it, and was later accused by Robin van Persie of kicking him in the face.

If that still was not enough – and it was not, because Spurs supporters still disliked him – he then memorably produced the greatest Premier League goal celebration ever by running the length of the field to celebrate in front of Arsenal fans after scoring against them for City.

Spurs then welcomed him enthusiastically, even changing the words to the horribly racist song they used to sing about him. He added a couple more North London Derby goals against Arsenal and, for a period, held the record for the most goals in the fixture.

After spending so long winning over Spurs fans, Adebayor then burned through that goodwill and saluted Tim Sherwood.

Liverpool 2007-10
Chelsea 2010-13
Arsenal 2011-12

Much to what would presumably have been David Pleat’s frustration, Yossi Benayoun never played for Spurs – although the Israeli did briefly feature for Harry Redknapp’s QPR in the Championship alongside Tom Carroll, Jermaine Jenas, Niko Kranjcar and Benoit Assou-Ekotto in his final spell in England, so his honorary status seems secure.

It was only at Liverpool that Benayoun came close to real success with a member of the Big Six. The Reds signed a player Alan Pardew had described as “a skinny little critter” in 2007 and received more than enough value for their £5m.

During his time at Anfield, Benayoun became the first player ever to score hat-tricks in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, while also scoring at the Bernabeu and in the remarkable 4-4 draw with Arsenal during a particularly productive 2008/09 season.

He left for Chelsea in 2010, but ended up playing more matches on loan at Arsenal (25) than he did for the Blues (24), despite spending three years at Stamford Bridge. Benayoun finished with more goals for Liverpool (29) than games for either of the other two clubs.