Week 3

Rankings are based upon the following five variables in descending order of bias: PPG (I weight wins as 4:1, not 3:1); Trend (5 games, with descending value per game past); League position from 2015/16 (This will decrease in bias over the first four games, and no longer be used after Week 5’s games are played); GPG ; GAPG .

Rank Team Score Change 1 Manchester City 4.80 0 2 Manchester United 3.82 0 3 Chelsea 2.40 0 4 Everton 0.94 2 5 Tottenham Hotspur 0.74 0 6 Hull City 0.68 (2) 7 Leicester City 0.66 6 8 Arsenal 0.66 6 9 Middlesbrough 0.56 (1) 10 Liverpool 0.54 (1) 11 West Bromwich … 0.52 0 12 West Ham United 0.50 (5) 13 Swansea City 0.46 (1) 14 Southampton 0.44 1 15 Burnley 0.43 (5) 16 Stoke City 0.38 1 17 Crystal Palace 0.38 1 18 Watford 0.37 (2) 19 Sunderland 0.37 0 20 AFC Bournemouth 0.36 0

Notes

Teams that are new (or returning) to the Premier League this season will suffer in ranking as if they had been 18 th in the league in the 2015/16 season, but this will only last for the first four weeks.

in the league in the 2015/16 season, but this will only last for the first four weeks. Scores are set to average to 1 to reveal parity. This reveals, since it is the first week of the season, the parity differences are small between the teams with a draw; the same goes for the losing teams.

Both those Manchester Teams are clearly ruling the roost. City is tied for first in PPG and obviously trend as well, but takes the advantage over United in GPG. United’s defense is the league’s best, but since I weight GPG over GAPG, and since last years’ performances are still impacting the outcome, City enjoys the top spot over United.

ruling the roost. City is tied for first in PPG and obviously trend as well, but takes the advantage over United in GPG. United’s defense is the league’s best, but since I weight GPG over GAPG, and since last years’ performances are still impacting the outcome, City enjoys the top spot over United. Chelsea being second in both GPG and GAPG is a great position for them, but they are significantly hurt by their position in the table form last year. (Reminder, this will only last for two more weeks).

Everton at 7 points deserves their fourth place spot, but they will be easily overtaken if they draw (or lose) next week and Spurs win (or draw).

I’m sure some might have issue with Spurs being above Hull, given Hull’s defeat of Leicester at the start of the season, but while Hull may be ahead of Tottenham on the table, they have lost while Spurs haven’t.

Arsenal and Leicester, just like in their match two weeks ago, have little to separate them right now, with Leicester’s edges coming in prior year performance, and GAPG.

While Boro haven’t lost yet this season, they are still only a recently promoted squad, so questions about their ability to sustain will exist until we’re a little further into the season. Also, West Brom lived in Boro’s defensive third for so much of Sunday’s match, that suggests they might struggle to find goals against better opponents.

West Ham was terrible in the first half at the Etihad, but they did perform much better in the second. Their position in the table should rise rapidly once their offensive players find their sparks.

Burnley was handled deftly by Chelsea, but should do well if they can beat the other teams expected to hide somewhere in the middle or bottom half of the table.

The remaining teams at the bottom all have something going for them, which is, at least they have a point, but that is problematic because they ALL have a point. If I had to make an early season projection on relegation, I’d think Watford, Palace, and Sunderland, but it’s really too early to call.

