Our Premier League Power Rankings from Matchweek 9 were a bit all over the place as there is so little between the vast majority of teams in the league.
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The title contenders continue to dominate the upper echelons, but below them there are surprise teams gathering steam and it’s getting extremely tight in the middle to bottom of the table.
Based on all of that, and following the chaos of Matchweek 9, below are our latest rankings.
The strugglers
20. Southampton – Even
19. Ipswich Town – Down 1
18. Leicester City - Down 4
17. Wolves - Up 2
16. West Ham – Even
Saints hung in there at Manchester City in a 1-0 defeat and a better defensive display will give them hope ahead of two pivotal games against Wolves and Everton coming up. They still have just one point from nine games this season but they’re playing better than that, as Pep Guardiola praised Russell Martin heavily. Ipswich Town are also still waiting for their first win of the season as they conceded late on to lose at Brentford in a wild 4-3 defeat, which had pretty much everything. Kieran McKenna’s side have the second-worst defensive record in the Premier League but if they can tighten things up they will grab plenty of points as they look very dangerous in attack. Leicester looked anything but that against their big rivals Nottingham Forest on Friday. Steve Cooper’s side were brushed aside easily and the result and performance underlined how the Foxes keep taking one step forward and one step back so far this season. Wolves rallied late on to grab an incredible 2-2 draw at Brighton after trailing 2-0 with 88 minutes on the clock. Gary O’Neil’s side were handed a ridiculously tough start to the season but now have a favorable run of games to try and grab their first win of the campaign. West Ham grabbed a big win against Man United to ease the pressure on Julen Lopetegui but it wasn’t pretty. They were awful in the first half and could have been 4-0 down, but Lopetegui did make three pivotal subs at half time to get them back in it and a fortuitous penalty kick in stoppage time saw the Hammers edge to victory. Defensively they must improve but this result will give them confidence.
The middling bunch
15. Everton — Down 1
14. Crystal Palace – Up 3
13. Manchester United – Down 2
12. Brentford – Up 3
11. Newcastle United - Down 1
The Toffees are tough to beat as they’re now five games unbeaten and Beto’s late equalizer at home to Fulham showcased their resilience. Sean Dyche’s side are getting back towards their best defensively and they have a run of winnable games coming up to catapult themselves into midtable. Crystal Palace breathed a huge sigh of relief as they got their first win of the season, and it was a big performance against Tottenham. The 1-0 scoreline flattered Spurs as Palace overran them and totally deserved the victory with Mateta leading the line, Eze buzzing around and Palace’s intensity was back in midfield and defense. Manchester United were so wasteful at West Ham that it became laughable, especially in the first half, as they missed glorious chances galore. They ran out of steam in the second half and looked like they would grab a point before conceding a very controversial late penalty kick which lost them the game, and lost Erik ten Hag his job. It seems that Ruben Amorim will be the next man in charge at Old Trafford as it’s all change once again. Brentford won a thriller, as they always seem to do, against Ipswich as Thomas Frank’s side embraced the chaos. They’re brilliant at doing that and Bryan Mbeumo is their new hero and is so consistent as he and Yoane Wissa made the most of Ipswich’s defensive mistakes. Newcastle were okay against Chelsea and created chances and missed a few sitters as they could have nicked a point. Eddie Howe is under pressure though, as Newcastle haven’t won any of their last five games and their top six hopes appear to be stalling.
The contenders
10. Fulham – Up 2
9. Bournemouth – Even
8. Tottenham Hotspur – Down 1
7. Brighton and Hove Albion - Down 2
6. Nottingham Forest – Up 2
The Cottagers were good value for their point at Everton and almost held on for a big win, which would have been deserved. They are much more dangerous in attack this season with Smith Rowe and Iwobi linking up for their goal and Marco Silva’s side are fun to watch. Bournemouth continue their impressive run of form as they scored a late equalizer at Aston Villa to make it four points from games against Arsenal and Villa in the last week. Andoni Iraola’s side have Evanilson leading the line well and scoring and that will make a huge difference to their chances of European qualification. Tottenham were perhaps impacted by their European action in midweek as they were sluggish and sloppy in their defeat Palace. Ange Postecoglou’s side have lost back-to-back away games in the league and in midfield they have a real problem with intensity, defensive shape and balance. Brighton coughed up what looked like a certain three points as they led 2-0 against Wolves and were pushing for a third goal to make it 3-1 but were caught out and conceded to make it 2-2. That sums up Fabian Hurzeler’s brave approach and the Seagulls continue to be one of the most entertaining teams to watch, but they still need some defensive tweaks to make the most of their all-action displays. Nottingham Forest are on a roll and have found exactly the right way to play under Nuno Espirito Santo. Chris Wood is finishing the crosses they’re putting into the box, Elanga and Hudson-Odoi are a constant threat, Yates is dominant in midfield and Milenkovic has been a revelation at center back. Europe may be just out of the question for Forest this season but they’re going to be close and this feels very similar to the team Nuno built at Wolves.
The top dogs
5. Aston Villa – Down 1
4. Chelsea – Up 2
3. Arsenal – Even
2. Manchester City – Even
1. Liverpool – Even
Villa will be disappointed with letting in a late goal to not beat Bournemouth, with a cross to the near post being flicked on something they pride themselves at being good at defending. Still, it has been an excellent start to the season as they continue to juggle the Champions League and Premier League impressively. Chelsea battled to victory against Newcastle as Cole Palmer once again inspired the victory with the winning goal. Lavia and Neto also impressed as Enzo Maresca’s side are fun to watch and if they can improve defensively they will be right in the top four hunt all season long. Arsenal will be disappointed after drawing at home to Liverpool, with Salah’s equalizer coming late on, but given their injuries they should be delighted. Bukayo Saka being back helped their fluidity massively and Mikel Arteta’s side are digging in. Manchester City were wasteful against Southampton but weren’t punished for it as they won 1-0. Pep Guardiola’s side have big injury issues to deal with too but the depth of their squad is incredible and they are top of the table and unbeaten. It’s looking pretty ominous as they’re nowhere near their best, which is usually the case at this point of the season. Liverpool didn’t play well at Arsenal but they still grabbed a draw. It felt like an opportunity missed for Arne Slot’s side but when you look at their start to the season, can you really complain? Nope. Being disappointed with a draw away at Arsenal, who didn’t have as many injuries to key players as feared, is a sign of how far they’ve come in such a short space of time.
