Manchester United would be top of the table if matches finished at half-time

West Brom and Watford would join Manchester United and Tottenham in the top four of the Premier League if matches ended at half-time.

Current leaders Leicester would be struggling in the bottom half of the table if points were earned on performances in the first 45 minutes, detailing just how impressive their second-half displays have been.

Remarkably, Crystal Palace have been level at half-time in each of their last 12 Premier League matches, but they would be four points and four places worse off if matches ended at half-time.

Alan Pardew's Palace have been level at half-time in 12 matches this season

Whenever the Eagles have scored first in the Premier League this season they have won, and whenever they have conceded first they have lost.

Leicester's form in the second 45 minutes has been vital in their table-topping start to the season, underlined by the fact they would be struggling in 15th based on first-half performances alone.

Claudio Ranieri's side have been behind at the break six times in their 13 games so far this season, but have gone on to lose just once - against Arsenal in September.

West Brom are 12th in the actual Premier League after the first 13 games of the season, but they have been behind just twice at the break.

Half-time Premier League table Team P W D L F A GD PTS 1 Manchester United 13 5 7 1 7 4 3 22 2 Tottenham 13 5 6 2 12 5 7 21 3 West Brom 13 5 6 2 7 6 1 21 4 Watford 13 4 8 1 6 2 4 20 5 Southampton 13 4 7 2 9 6 3 19 6 Arsenal 13 4 6 3 10 7 3 18 7 Liverpool 13 3 9 1 8 6 2 18 8 West Ham 13 5 3 5 11 13 -2 18 9 Manchester City 13 3 8 2 11 8 3 17 10 Everton 13 4 5 4 12 10 2 17 11 Stoke 13 4 5 4 6 6 0 17 12 Swansea 13 3 7 3 7 7 0 16 13 Chelsea 13 3 6 4 9 9 0 15 14 Crystal Palace 13 1 12 0 4 3 1 15 15 Leicester 13 4 3 6 8 9 -1 15 16 Newcastle 13 3 5 5 7 10 -3 14 17 Norwich 13 2 7 4 7 8 -1 13 18 Bournemouth 13 3 3 7 10 16 -6 12 19 Aston Villa 13 2 5 6 3 10 -7 11 20 Sunderland 13 2 4 7 5 14 -9 10

The Baggies sit third in the recalculated first-half only table, one point behind leaders Manchester United on 21 points.

Just below them are Watford, who started the season as many people's favourites to be relegated from the top flight but they have lost their last two games to drop to 13th in the real table, and statistics show they tend to drop off in the second half of matches.

Leicester City's form in the second has been impressive

They have been behind just once at the break this season, against Manchester United on Saturday, but have gone on to lose five times.

Propping up the recalculated table in 20th are Sunderland, despite their win over Crystal Palace on Monday night. The score was 0-0 at half-time, giving them one point in our standings, not enough to overtake Aston Villa in 19th.

Sunderland have been behind seven times at the break so far this season, and have gone on to lose eight times. In fact, they would have one more point if matches finished at half-time, so how are they bottom?

Despite their win at Crystal Palace, Sunderland are bottom of our table

Essentially, that comes down to the poor second-half form of Bournemouth and Aston Villa. After 13 games, they are 19th and 20th respectively in the Premier League proper, but they would have earned many more points if matches finished after 45 minutes.

In fact, Villa would have more than doubled their points tally. Remi Garde's men have five points in the full Premier League table and have lost 10 times, but they have only been behind at the break in six.

They would have 11 points if games finished at half-time, enough to take them above Sunderland and just two points from safety. In reality, they are stranded at the bottom and five points away from 17th-placed Newcastle.

These stats were taken from this week's Martin Tyler column. For more facts and stats - including who has scored the most goals in one season without scoring more than once in a single match - hit the link.