Pressing Issues

The Criteria

The ranking system I came up with is built on five metrics, aiming to consider a team’s average performance in different areas of the pitch, while also factoring in a team’s consistency and allowing for individual outliers.

Each metric was judged on a scale of 1-10, to provide an overall score out of 50.

1: Attacking Quality

Used to judge a team’s ability with the ball – in terms of how effectively they progress the ball, chance creation as well as how clinical they are in front of goal.

2: Defensive Quality

Measure of a team out of possession – including players’ defensive work rate, how they cope in defensive transition as well as the general ability of their defenders.

3: Performance Floor

Essentially a metric of a club’s ability on an ‘off day’. It is representative of the lowest possible level of that side.

4: Performance Ceiling

Judgement of the highest potential ability of a team.

5: ‘Star’ Quality

Measured by judging the quality of a team’s individuals, as well as looking at clubs with players who are capable of ‘lifting them up’.

The Front Runners (1-3)

It’s not surprising that Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City make up the top three. Liverpool’s near perfect ranking is indicative of their attack’s individual brilliance but also absolute cohesion and the team’s consistency so far this season.

Arsenal lead the way for ‘defensive quality’ courtesy of their organisation and understanding out of possession, but lack the ‘star quality’ of Liverpool and thus there is quite a distance between the two overall scores.

Manchester City compete with the top two across most metrics, but fall short with their ‘performance floor’ – the result of inconsistent performances and shaky form. Despite this, their ‘performance ceiling’ remains high, as does their star quality.

Best Of The Rest (4-8)

There is a tie for fourth place, with Chelsea and Newcastle both scoring 37.5. The Blues slightly edge them for both star quality and attacking quality: Alexander Isak’s recent brilliance is somewhat offset by the Magpies’ lack of attacking depth (Jacob Murphy’s current form is unlikely to prove sustainable), so Chelsea having star power of their own in Cole Palmer, as well as a host of attacking options sees them just about win our for this metric.

Newcastle’s defensive superiority – largely due to their dogged midfield – culminates in the two finishing on the same score.

Nottingham Forest are then just a single point behind, and lose out slightly on the star quality metric. This is partially due to their performances last season, as well as the idea that Forest are highly dependent on their current system, and their players’ individual quality is somewhat inferior to the teams around them.

Aston Villa edge out Bournemouth for seventh place as a result of a slightly higher performance floor and more star quality – although Villa are quite tricky to assess given their transfer window.

Middle Of The Road (9-15)

There are then three teams who score 33, with Brighton, Brentford and Fulham all matching up well. Brighton’s inconsistent form sees them have a lower floor but higher ceiling than the other two, while Brentford and Fulham were ranked the same for every metric – although the Cottagers are five points ahead of the Bees in the Premier League.

Twelfth place is Tottenham Hotspur. Ange Postecoglou may have received plenty of criticism for Spurs’ current league position, but when assessing the quality of their first eleven (especially given their ongoing injury crisis), it is perhaps not surprising that they are sat fourteenth in the league.

Defensive injuries have made them vulnerable, but have also exacerbated Spurs’ other issues: a lack of quality in midfield, attacking options (aside from Dominic Solanke) who look past their best, and a team which is physically not a match for most Premier League teams.

Crystal Palace sandwich themselves between two giants in thirteenth, with Oliver Glasner’s side having a solid balance between attacking and defensive quality – the result of their stable but threatening 3-4-3, in which right back Daniel Munoz has become so integral.

Manchester United find themselves behind the Eagles, coming off worse in terms of attacking threat and their performance floor.

Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes and occasionally Rasmus Hojlund have shown glimpses of ability under Ruben Amorim, but United have been far too inconsistent in front of goal to warrant anything above a score of six for attacking quality.

West Ham are caught somewhat in no man’s land between the top fourteen and the bottom five. They sit just behind the Red Devils but quite comfortably clear of 15th place.

Fighting For Scraps (16-20)

Grouping the last five teams together feels incredibly harsh to Everton and exceedingly generous to Southampton.

The Toffees score a respectable 27 having been rejuvenated in recent weeks by the re-arrival of David Moyes. They also edge out the bottom four on star quality based on the quality shown by Iliman Ndiaye over the past few months, as well as Jordan Pickford’s outstanding form.

Wolves are a tricky side to judge: they have brilliant attacking quality in Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen, good young talent such as Joao Gomes, but equally have managed to get themselves into a relegation battle with the three promoted sides. This has been put down to defensive deficiencies, which is reflected in their ranking.

Ipswich are comfortably eighteenth on 23 points, with the attacking quality of Liam Delap, Omari Hutchinson and even left-back Leif Davis reigning superior to Leicester and Southampton. The Foxes find themselves in nineteenth, having almost matched Ipswich for attacking threat but losing out due to their defence proving to be incredibly lackluster.

A five point gap then sees Southampton languishing in last place – to the surprise of absolutely no-one. It feels like every other Premier League club has at least a facet of quality to hold dear, but the Saints are without doubt a Championship level squad doing their dearest best to fight with the big boys.