Power Rankings: Alternative PL table after week 22

Mark Holmes
Manchester City: Heading to China in the summer

Manchester City: Heading to China in the summer

Manchester City, Bournemouth, Manchester United, Southampton and Tottenham were the weekend’s big Power Rankings winners.

In Power Rankings, we award points from 0.5 to 10, decided by an algorithm based on bookmaker odds and winning margins.

It rewards teams scoring lots of goals and also those defying expectations but sees odds-on favourites penalised for sneaking past inferior opponents by the odd goal.

With last season’s top four of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United losing an incredible 23 games between them already this season, it sees some surprise names at the top of the Power Rankings…

Week 22

Manchester City – 5: Interestingly, City are 9.5 points clear of Arsenal in the Power Rankings despite trailing the Gunners by a point in the Premier League. A 4-0 win over Crystal Palace helps explain why – while Arsenal have consistently ground out results, City have really turned on the style when on top form.

Bournemouth – 4: One of several teams to chalk up a convincing home win on Saturday, Bournemouth will now really fancy their chances of Premier League survival after moving above well-beaten Norwich City.

Manchester United – 4: It was neither pretty nor totally convincing, but nobody associated with United will care. A 1-0 win at Anfield on Sunday kept up the pressure on Tottenham in the battle for Champions League places.

Southampton – 4: It has been far from plain sailing for Southampton this season, but a 3-0 win over West Brom on Saturday, following a 2-0 win over Watford in midweek, has at least moved them back into the top half.

Tottenham – 4: After falling behind, Spurs responded in the best possible style against Sunderland, equalising before half-time before seeing out a comfortable victory in the second half.

Newcastle United – 3: A crucial 2-1 win over West Ham moved Newcastle up to eighth in the Power Rankings. Their challenge now is to start winning more of the games they are expected to.

Swansea City – 3: After slipping into the bottom three of the Premier League courtesy of Newcastle’s win on Saturday, Swansea climbed back out of it at the first possible opportunity with a 1-0 win over Watford on Monday evening.

Everton – 2.5: John Terry’s late, offside, winner denied Everton victory, but they would almost certainly have taken a point at Stamford Bridge beforehand. Still, their habit of throwing away leads will continue to frustrate.

Stoke City – 2: Having already beaten Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, Stoke were unable to complete a clean sweep of wins against last season’s top four. However, they did at least make it four clean sheets with a 0-0 draw against Arsenal on Sunday.

Aston Villa – 1.5: It’s still hugely unlikely that it will be enough to save them, but Villa have shown spirit since their FA Cup draw at Wycombe. A draw against Leicester City would have gone down as a good result in normal circumstances.

Leicester City – 1: They briefly moved back to the top of the Premier League with the draw at Villa Park, but Claudio Ranieri admitted that Leicester had dropped two points against the league’s bottom side.

Arsenal – 0.5: Fans may, justifiably, complain that the odds were rather unfair given Arsenal’s record at Stoke, but the Gunners were odds-on favourites to win at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday and so claim only half a point.

 

Power Rankings

Team Power Rankings Points Official Points
1. West Ham 70.5 35
2. Stoke City 55.5 33
3. Leicester City 55 44
4. Manchester City 49.5 43
5. Crystal Palace 48.5 31
6. West Brom 45.5 27
= Tottenham 45.5 39
8. Newcastle 44 21
9. Everton 43.5 29
10. Watford 43 29
11. Arsenal 40 44
12. Southampton 39 30
13. Manchester United 38.5 37
14. Norwich City 36.5 23
15. Bournemouth 34.5 24
= Liverpool 34.5 21
17. Sunderland 31 18
18. Swansea 24 19
19. Chelsea 23.5 25
20. Aston Villa 21.5 12