Chelsea’s 7-point lead atop the Premier League table still feels relatively safe, even if Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United continue their table-surging form.
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That makes a set of Power Rankings, designed to combine table situation with form, even tighter, and Spurs have really made life difficult for our rankers.
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The bottom of the table is even closer, with four teams within a single point of the final spot of safety in the Premier League.
Here are this week’s rankings.
| TEAM | RANKING | |
|---|
| | 20 (19) | | Sunderland: “Hello darkness, my old friend.
I’ve come to talk with you again.” |
| | 19 (18) | | Crystal Palace: Big Sam Allardyce has famously “never been relegated”, but at this point it looks like he may go down with a better squad than he’s had at a lot of other stops. We’ll see. |
| | 18 (17) | | Swansea City: Reinforcements are coming, but the back line is still wobbly. |
| | 17 (20) | | Hull City: Tigers looking a lot better under Marco Silva, even in a 2-0 EFL Cup semi loss to Manchester United. |
| | 16 (15) | | Watford: The Hornets have not won a league game since Dec. 10, its only PL win since mid-November. |
| | 15 (16) | | Middlesbrough: Aitor Karanka’s side looks like a group that can beat the drop, but Boro needs to turn a draw into a win at some point soon. |
| | 14 (11) | | Southampton: Claude Puel’s unit is struggling, losers of four-straight in Premier League play. Saints are, however, a result away from the EFL Cup final. |
| 13 (14) | | Leicester City: The Foxes’ 3-0 loss to Chelsea feels worse than it is, as Leicester has looked better in recent weeks. |
| | 12 (9) | | Bournemouth: The 3-0 lead against Arsenal turned into a draw, and the Cherries backed it up with a 3-1 loss to Hull City. Down they go.
|
| 11 (10) | | West Ham United: The Dimitri Payet saga keeps the Irons from rising even higher in the Power Rankings. Michail Antonio is fantastic. |
| 10 (12) | | Stoke City: The Potters haven’t made the leap to a top-end club, but continue to win most games they should. |
| | 9 (8) | | West Bromwich Albion: No shame in getting crushed by red-hot Spurs, though it may serve as a reality check for Tony Pulis and Co. |
| | 8 (13) | | Burnley: Three wins in four, with the outlier being a close loss to Man City. Enjoy the high life, Clarets! |
| 7 (6) | | Manchester City: The mighty have indeed fallen, and how bad might it look after another match against Spurs? |
| 6 (7) | | Everton: That win over Man City is going to linger for a while, and don’t forget the Toffees took care of Arsenal not too long ago. Six with a bullet?
|
| | 5 (4) | | Arsenal: It remains hard to get a read on the Gunners, who are still aching for a statement win since back-to-back losses against Man City and Everton.
|
| | 4 (3) | | Liverpool: The EFL Cup setback doesn’t push them in our rankings, but the Reds were second-best -- not by a ton -- to United on Sunday. That’s enough for a flip-flop. |
| | 3 (4) | | Manchester United: The better team in the draw against Liverpool. |
| | 2 (2) | | Tottenham Hotspur: Took everything in our power not to boost them, but a 7-point gap is a lot. Beat Man City this week and we’ll revisit the issue. |
| 1 (1) | | Chelsea: Costa situation is a problem, but you wouldn’t know it from the steadied ship that ushered hosts Leicester to a 3-0 defeat. |
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