Power Rankings: City fifth after WBA win

Mark Holmes
Vincent Kompany: Celebrates scoring for Manchester City at West Brom

Vincent Kompany: Back from injury for Manchester City

Manchester City are the new title favourites after beating West Brom to go top, but they are only joint third in our Power Rankings.

We’re not going to be petitioning FIFA for a change to the points system any time soon, but imagine if points were awarded based on the difficulty of the result achieved.

Man City were pretty impressive as they brushed Albion aside convincingly at The Hawthorns on Monday night, but the bookies were expecting it – they had them odds-on – and the layers have now installed City as 15/8 title favourites with Chelsea 11/5.

That may well be an over reaction after Chelsea were held to a draw by Swansea on Saturday, but TEAMtalk’s Power Rankings have not been as easily swayed and have put Manuel Pellegrini’s men into fifth spot.

So, as an alternative to the official table, this season we’ll be using an algorithm based on bookmaker odds and winning margins to award points from 0.5 up to 10, ensuring the teams that attack and go for glory with the odds stacked against them are rewarded more than those teams that claim their points through a series of 1-0 home wins over the league’s struggling teams.

Week 1

West Ham – 10: A 2-0 win at Arsenal earns West Ham, who were 11/1 long shots to take the three points at Emirates Stadium, a maximum 10-point haul.

Swansea – 5: Their draw at Chelsea may only have been worth a point in the real world, but holding the champions on their own turf is worth five Power Rankings points.

Aston Villa – 5: They may have been up against a newly-promoted side in Bounemouth, but Villa were outsiders with the bookmakers yet got their season off to the perfect start.

Crystal Palace – 5: Palace were shorter odds than Villa to win at Norwich, but a two-goal winning margin at Carrow Road sees them too pick up four points.

Manchester City – 4: Laid down a real marker with a thumping win at West Brom, and the bookies now make their favourites to win the league.

Watford – 3: Like Swansea, Watford pick up extra points for an away draw having caused a shock against Everton at Goodison Park.

Leicester – 3: Leicester were odds-on favourites to beat Sunderland and were made to pay for conceding a second.

Liverpool – 2: Liverpool also claim the same Power Rankings points as they did in reality having claimed only a one-goal win at Stoke, earning no bonus points.

Manchester United – 2: Louis van Gaal’s side, meanwhile, lose out a point in our alternative reality having edged their way past Tottenham in a game they were heavy odds-on favourites to win.

Newcastle – 1: A 2-2 draw against Southampton, who finished seventh last season, earns Newcastle a point, just as it did in reality.

Southampton – 1: Saints also claim a point from a game in which neither side were particularly more fancied than the other.

Everton – 0-5: A 2-2 home draw against newly-promoted Watford earns Watford only half a point, the smallest haul available.

Chelsea – 0.5: The same applies to Chelsea, who were the biggest favourites of the weekend yet only struggled their way to a draw against Swansea at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal – 0: You get nothing in the real world for a defeat – and nothing in this game either!

Bournemouth – 0: Beaten at home by Aston Villa – no points.

Norwich – 0: A home defeat to Crystal Palace leaves them on zero for now.

Stoke – 0: Philippe Coutinho’s late screamer leaves Mark Hughes’ side empty-handed.

Sunderland – 0: It wasn’t exactly the start to the new season Dick Advocaat will have wanted.

Tottenham – 0: Mauricio Pochettino’s side must wait another week to get off the mark.

West Brom – 0: Easily swept aside by a rampant Man City. A draw would have seen them leap into the top half.