Premier League Power Rankings

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

1) Manchester City - A solid point against Arsenal and all the City fans are believing now. Arsenal are as tough as they come - but City can grind it out anywhere.

2) Manchester United - The machine is not exactly well-oiled right now but it is being cranked up for a new year title charge. They are going to be difficult to over-haul but if City stay close it will be those at Old Trafford feeling the pressure.

3) Arsenal - If only! They were ready to take City apart and many ways they did. Positive football vs negative football. This is the Premier League and not a DC comic strip. The Gunners need to keep that pressure up for a full 90mins. As close to a London Barca ... but not close enough.

4) Tottenham Hotspur - A magnificent run that ended at Goodison. No disgrace in that. Rafael van der Vaart may be the best player in the league right now. Harry Redknapp is not wise to believe David Beckham would have made a difference against Everton. His energetic but lightweight midfield was over-powered easily. Tom Huddlestone was the greater miss.


5) Everton - A massive win against Spurs and Everton may have just found their voice. For all the negative press over the Christmas period - a win at Man City and another at home to Spurs showed signs that the inevitable end of season charge may start early.
The transfer talk may have sparked Louis Saha into a spell of form which is better than any new signing David Moyes can afford right now.

6) Sunderland - Steve Bruce will be pleased to have come out of the other side of the holiday period still in contention. The Black Cats have not had the black hole of form that has been their achilles heel in recent years .. yet.

7) Chelsea - Are you ready for the meltdown. Chelsea players were found out in the World Cup of 2010. It was deemed that they would be fine once back in the comfort of The Bridge. Then they realised they had all reached the other side of their peaks. Michael Ballack is a massive miss. A dictator of pace during games the frantic Frank Lampard and Michael Essien lack such control.

8) Newcastle United - It won't be long until Alan Pardew starts to believe in his own hype. It happened at West Ham and it all fell apart. Here it may just ride a Geordie wave for a while longer.

9) Bolton Wanderers - There has been a lot to like about what Owen Coyle has done this year but they are having a sticky time that has yet to see them drop down the table. It won't be long until the chasing pack suck them in.

10) Liverpool - If Roy Hodgson has got one thing right during his time at Anfield it was when he brought the lack of support he has had from The Kop to the media's attention. He typically apologised and that is his great failing. The empty seats and sarcastic chants have harmed the reputation of Liverpool far more than the signing of Christian Poulson. Whose fault it will be when the angry mob seeks out their next target nobody knows ... and nobody is safe.

11) Blackpool - Entertaining their way to safety was maybe the plan all along. Shutting up shop at home during the last ten minutes of games would not be taking too much away from their fresh approach - and could be vital.

12) Wolverhampton Wanderers - Wolves have good players, can beat good teams with good performances and maybe their manager has something too - they should never have been down so low. The only way is up since they stopped the over-aggressive approach.

13) Stoke City - There is nothing anybody can do it seems about this brand of football surviving for another year.

14) Fulham - The Cottagers have never been that bad and have had some luck in turning the draws into wins. It is probably all that was missing.

15) West Bromwich Albion - The Fulham result was not as bad as it looks on paper. The run of the ball seems to have deserted Roberto Di Matteo's men.

16) Blackburn Rovers - What an embarrassment their attempt to buy Ronaldinho was/is. If he actually turned up it would get really strange. Their recent decent results don't fool anyone. The sacking of Sam Allardyce will catch up with them.

17) Birmingham City - Alex McLeish's teams have one overriding quality - they compete in every game - they don't have much of a side, but give themselves a chance.

18) Aston Villa - It has been said here before and will be repeated again for a while no doubt - you cannot take a season off in this league. The switch from Martin O'Neill to Gerard Houllier without a pre-season was a massive leap in philosophy. Randy Lerner has backed that change - fingers crossed for Villa they are not the new Cleveland Browns.

19) Wigan Athletic - A great point at The Reebok on the back of some great away performances. The football Latics play gets no credit. It is all about the away form, sadly, for Roberto Martinez who has to do it the hard way.

20) West Ham United - Another week and another apology. Quite why The Hammers have their manager apologising to fans after a decent run of results that have dragged them from the floor is baffling. West Ham need to be proud of themselves. They are in a semi-final, have a decent set of players and could ride a wave of optimism. Instead, they act like a self-conscious teenager.