Note: Usually we publish the Championship Power Rankings first thing Monday morning, but they still have one match left this week. Also, Premier League clubs will be playing twice this week, with matches starting tomorrow,so they will get the lead position this week, with Championship rankings coming later in the week.
After this past weekend’s results, only four clubs remain in the same position that they were in last week’s Power Rankings. A few lower-ranked teams had unexpected results over higher-ranked opponents, but nothing so shocking that it caused chaos up and down the rankings.
As always, these rankings reflect performance in Premier League matches only, and are more about the week-to-week trends instead of the whole season picture. A club is rewarded more for victories against teams there weren’t expected to defeat and vice versa, with draws treated fairly neutral unless there is a massive ranking disparity.
Note: Records presented as W-D-L
Results as of matches played through 2 December 2018
| Rank | Team | Record | Last Week | Change | Table Pos |
| 1 | Manchester City | 12-2-0 | 1 | — | 1 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 11-3-0 | 2 | — | 2 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 9-4-1 | 4 | 1↑ | 3 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 9-3-2 | 5 | 1↑ | 4 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 10-0-4 | 3 | 2↓ | 5 |
| 6 | Leicester City | 6-3-5 | 8 | 2↑ | 8 |
| 7 | Manchester United | 6-4-4 | 7 | — | 7 |
| 8 | Everton | 6-4-4 | 6 | 2↓ | 6 |
| 9 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 5-3-6 | 10 | 1↑ | 11 |
| 10 | Watford | 6-2-6 | 9 | 1↓ | 10 |
| 11 | AFC Bournemouth | 6-2-6 | 11 | — | 9 |
| 12 | West Ham United | 4-3-7 | 15 | 3↑ | 13 |
| 13 | Cardiff City | 3-2-9 | 16 | 3↑ | 16 |
| 14 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 4-4-6 | 12 | 2↓ | 12 |
| 15 | Crystal Palace | 3-3-8 | 17 | 2↑ | 14 |
| 16 | Newcastle United | 3-3-8 | 15 | 1↓ | 15 |
| 17 | Huddersfield United | 2-4-8 | 14 | 3↓ | 17 |
| 18 | Southampton | 1-5-7 | 20 | 2↑ | 18 |
| 19 | Burnley | 2-3-9 | 18 | 1↓ | 19 |
| 20 | Fulham | 2-2-10 | 19 | 1↓ | 20 |
Behind the Rankings
One of the more shocking results of the weekend was yet another loss by Wolverhampton Wanderers, who lost 2-1 in Wales to Cardiff City. The Wolves are now winless in their last six matches, with only a draw at Arsenal splitting five defeats. It’s one thing to lose to the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, even at home, but another thing entirely to lose to teams below them in the table. The Wolves have two matches this week – against Chelsea and Newcastle United – to return to their early season form, otherwise that early season promise may be squandered.
Speaking of Arsenal, they had a stunning come from behind victory on Sunday afternoon against the Spurs. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang started the scoring for Arsenal in the tenth minute, only to see the Spurs equalize then take the lead on a Harry Kane penalty in the 34th minute. Aubameyang equalized 10 minutes into the second half, and Arsenal went ahead for good, scoring two goals in less than three minutes. The victory moved Arsenal ahead in the table based on goal differential, and they extended their current undefeated streak to 12 matches (9-3-0).
The Bottom of the Rankings
After this week’s results, the bottom of our Power Rankings now look exactly like the relegation zone of the league table. Fulham’s change of fortune last week in Claudio Ranieri’s first match at the helm ended abruptly in a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea this week. They are the first club in the league with 10 losses, and are likely to add two more this week (and may have difficulty winning for the rest of the year).
Southampton and Manchester United played to a 2-2 draw that is probably best summarized by this tweet:
This is two shite PL teams competing to out-shite each other.
— Rich (@RichRedVoices) December 1, 2018
Southampton won their only match of the season on September 1st. Since then, they have gone 0-5-5, tumbling towards the bottom of the league. Expectations weren’t that high for the Saints entering the season, especially after their 17th place finish last season. Unlike Fulham, however, they appear to have opportunities to pick up a win before the New Year, though with how they’ve been playing, they are probably going to turn possible wins into draws.
Until next time…