'As open as it has ever been' - is this the tightest Premier League?

"The Premier League is as open as it has ever been."

After helping West Ham to a stunning 2-0 win at Newcastle on Monday, Jarrod Bowen's words summed up England's top flight perfectly.

Before the match, the Hammers were being talked about as in a relegation fight. Now they are just eight points off second place and eyeing Europe.

Apart from runaway leaders Liverpool, the race for Europe in the Premier League has never been tighter.

There is just one point separating second to fifth - the smallest the gap has ever been at this stage of the season. The previous low after 12 matches was two points, which had only happened three other times.

Looking further down the table and the gap between second to 10th is just five points, which is the joint lowest after 12 matches. It has happened only twice previously.

The gap between second to West Ham in 14th is just eight points - which has been matched only once previously - although the Hammers are now four points clear of the bottom six.

Former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott told Sky Sports: "Everyone is beating everyone. You just can't predict any results now. The league is more unpredictable than ever."

Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher added: "That win has created a group of six at the bottom and maybe three of those six will now go.

"That was a bad one for Newcastle. A win and they would have been right in the mix. There are so many teams so close together, who will be looking at those European places."

English clubs are guaranteed four places in the Champions League next season but will be hopeful of gaining an extra spot, given to two countries with the strongest performances in this season's European competitions.

There will be then two English teams in the Europa League next campaign. One place given to the fifth or sixth-placed teams - depending on how many teams qualify for the Champions League - and one for the winner of the FA Cup. That place will revert to the league though if the FA Cup winner has already qualified for Europe.

The winners of the Carabao Cup would then qualify for the Europa Conference League but, again if they have already secured a place in Europe, that spot would be for the next highest-ranked team in the Premier League.

As you can see there is plenty to play for.

How long is a piece of string? It is one of those questions that feels impossible to answer definitively but one thing you can say is a lot of teams have been inconsistent.

Between second to 12th, Manchester City, Arsenal, Brighton, Fulham and Newcastle are the only sides who have won back-to-back games more than once all season, while nine of them have at some point gone three games without a win.

Many of the teams we would be expecting to be challenging for a Champions League place have underperformed this season.

Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Manchester United all have fewer points at this stage than they did last campaign.

Aston Villa, in the Champions League this season, have one win in seven but are still only four points off second. Chelsea, in third, have two wins in six, and fourth-placed Arsenal have one in five. Manchester City have lost their past three and remain second.

Meanwhile, it would be fair to argue that Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Fulham are overachieving compared with many people's expectations, with their points tally significantly better than at this stage last season.

Just five teams have won three matches in a row - Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.

As we enter the busiest period of the season, there will be a lot of teams still fancying their chances of making a push for Europe.