Premier League Power Rankings

The league never lies? A weekly look at who is making the real moves during the season!

1) Manchester City - We have backed Roberto Mancini so often here and there is no reason to change now. They had their best performance without Carlos Tevez in the side on Saturday. A champions performance. Now he has realised that Manchester and Buenos Aires are quite far apart it should not derail City's progress. Mancini has been working with the crowd being led a merry dance by the Argentinian and he has come out the other side. Now the fans and manager can unite. There is nobody bigger than the club in every case like this and with City's resources they can play this particular game any which way they choose.

2) Manchester United - Humbling rival fans, rival teams and website Power Rankings - Manchester United are back slugging it out where it matters. As for all the talk that Alex Ferguson needed Wayne Rooney more than the other way around - they win with, without or in spite of Rooney.

3) Tottenham Hotspur - In so many ways Tottenham are like their big North London rivals. Spurs are on the verge of being a true contender and every so often everybody gets carried away and thinks they are already there. The difference is that this star is rising .

4) Arsenal - What a disappointment for Arsene Wenger and any believers in The Gunners. The result at Old Trafford is less about the points than the belief. They may look like they have stepped up a level, they may act like they have stepped up a level .... the truth remains that they have not .


5) Chelsea - A great point for Chelsea and it is true that it could have been all three. Nevertheless, the bad run continues and with every passing week the pressure builds. If they even have a sniff of finishing outside the Champions League places it could spell meltdown.

6) Liverpool - It was a terrible result at Newcastle, make no mistake. The Boston Red Sox just put the New York Yankees under pressure with their player recruitment. Similar scenes this side of the Atlantic may push Liverpool into the mix.

7) Sunderland - In a league of inconsistency Steve Bruce is King.

8) Everton - It is obvious that David Moyes has a team that can compete with anybody. They may need to score goals but there are not too many strikers who don't miss similar chances to the ones that the Everton strikers have ... step forward Fernando Torres and Wayne Rooney. Sometimes it is as simple as the run of the ball being against you. Ten years ago that was an explanation - now it is deemed a crisis. .

9) Bolton Wanderers - Add battling qualities to the many that Owen Coyle has instilled in this Bolton side.

10) Blackpool - Without a doubt the best result Ian Holloway has achieved all season. No soft touch comes away from Stoke with anything.

11) Newcastle United - What a week for Mike Ashley. It all looked like falling apart but Alan Pardew is no mug. Indeed, the sacking of Chris Hughton did overshadow the fact that he had made his first 'stable' appointment. Pardew has the power to get teams behind him - the problem has always been for how long. In Andy Carroll, Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan they have leaders with no fear.

12) West Bromwich Albion - Another good performance for Roberto DiMatteo to take a lot from. Staying up it seems with relative ease.

13) Stoke City - Just as it seemed that we all would have to accept 'Pulis Heavyweight Football' is the most productive pound for pound in this mid-table - they were dealt a knockout blow by a flyweight.

14) Aston Villa - After what looked like a surrender at Anfield, Villa bounced back with a result, if not a performance, that mattered. Gerard Houllier is not everybody's cup of tea but he seems to get it done when it counts.

15) Wolverhampton Wanderers - A massive win at the weekend. It is too much to suggest that the season may have turned on a Stephen Hunt strike but this was a largely unheralded result in a absolutely 'must win' game. Mick McCarthy's men delivered. Reason to believe.

16) Fulham - It is so difficult to judge Fulham. They never have bad results - they never have good results. They are the ultimate team on the brink .

17) Birmingham City - They would have hoped to have strangled a point from Wolves given their recent form. Not a disaster but things are not what they were last year at St Andrews.

18) Blackburn Rovers - After Sunday's failure to put away 10-man Bolton there was every reason to shrug and remember the easy points they would have in the coming weeks when they return to 'fortress' Ewood. Lets get it straight - Ewood is not a fortress because it has what looks like a high street shopping centre down the side of the pitch - it was all about the intensity of Sam Allardyce, without that - what exactly do Blackburn have?

19) Wigan Athletic - A point at Goodison is definitely a 'win' for Roberto Martinez and true enough it doesn't matter how you get them - the problem Wigan have is that these games need to be turned into wins in order to stay up - they have no home bankers to fall back on .

20) West Ham United - If the powers that be in the East End want the headaches to go away - forget the so-called traditionalists and employ Sam Allardyce with immediate effect. Most people do not remember West Ham as the attacking sides of Geoff Hurst, the skilled footballing Hammers with Alan Devonshire or John Lyall's exciting young team of the 80s - they look at The Hammers as a team that flirts with relegation. Allardyce avoids all that.