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A year is an interesting benchmark to reflect on how much you've improved, or in some cases, got worse, so let's take a look at each of the 20 clubs in the English Premier League and see where they are in comparison to this exact point in time last year.
Looking at the table there (after 11 games), it really makes you appreciate what a job Paul Clement did at Swansea to keep them up, especially considering it wasn't until January he took over and by that point they were in an even worse state than the above.
Let's delve into this year and decide if each team has improved, got worse, or simply stayed the same.
20th (-4): Crystal Palace
Wins: 1 (-2) | Draws: 1 (-1) | Losses: 9 (+3) | GD: -18 (-15) | Points: 4 (-7)
To say they’ve had a torrid start to the season would be an understatement. Frank de Boer was sacked after just four league games, which, to simply put it, isn’t enough time for a manager to do what is required, especially for someone like de Boer who was trying to change the way that Palace played and that doesn’t happen overnight.
Hodgson hasn’t fared much better at all, in the seven games he’s taken charge of, he’s won one, drawn one and lost five. There were signs of improvements in their last game away at Spurs but they lacked that cutting edge which can make all the difference come the end of the season. Work cut out for Roy to keep them up.
19th (=): Swansea City
Wins: 2 (+1) | Draws: 2 | Losses: 7 (-1) | GD: -6 (+5) | Points: 8 (+3)
Not shifted in terms of league position from last season and the beginning of the 16/17 campaign had nothing to do with Clement as he only took over in January of this year, but it does have a familiar to feel to it. They seem to drop points where they shouldn’t be and that’ll be a worry for Clement.
One shining light for them, this year is loanee Tammy Abraham who has been called up to the England squad following his goalscoring exploits at the beginning of this season. Can he save them from the drop?
18th (-1): West Ham United
Wins: 2 (-1) | Draws: 3 (+1) | Losses: 6 (=) | GD: -12 (-3) | Points: 9 (-2)
Newly appointed David Moyes has certainly got his work cut out as he takes over a Hammers side in the bottom three. All is not lost though as this is a West Ham side that oozes quality from back to front and the position in the table is not a true reflection on that, however, if they continue to play the way they are, Moyes will be in for a long slog.
It could be argued that there were better people available than Moyes, but the decision has been made and whilst they should have enough to stay up, will the decision to appoint Moyes cost them in the long run?
17th (-4) AFC Bournemouth
Wins: 3 (=) | Draws: 1 (-2) | Losses: 7 (+2) | GD: -7 (-4) | Points: 10 (-2)
Bottom out of the three south coast clubs which will hurt Eddie Howe, but, like Everton, their issues seem to be beginning from the final third. Bournemouth love to play football which is easy on the eye, but one thinks they might need to come up with a plan B in case their passing game doesn’t work.
Despite that, one thing that is in their favour is the fact that they have survived before, something which the likes of Brighton and Huddersfield haven’t been through, so maybe, just maybe that could prove the difference come May.
16th (-5): West Bromwich Albion
Wins: 2 (-1) | Draws: 4 (=) | Losses: 5 (+1) | GD: -5 (-2) | Points: 10 (-3)
If you’d asked any Baggies fan before the beginning of the season whether they thought they’d be above or below the other Albion (Brighton) in the league table come the International break in November, I’ll take an educated guess and say at least 95% would have put them above the newly promoted side.
Naturally, in the eyes of the Hawthorns faithful, that is not good enough and there has been the odd ‘Pulis Out’ chant in recent weeks. It is a catch 22 situation, if I’ve ever I’ve seen one, because everyone knows Pulis doesn’t get relegated, so they won’t go down, but they don’t really seem to be up to much else, so they do they roll the dice? We will see.
15th (-8): Everton
Wins: 3 (-2) | Draws: 2 (-1) | Losses: 6 (+3) | GD: -12 (-14) | Points: 11 (-7)
Oh dear, what a difference a year makes. This time last year they were within touching distance of a Champions League place, this time, they’re in touching distance of the Championship and for a club that spent over £140 million, they are most definitely at the wrong end of the table.
So, where has it all gone wrong? The biggest area is around goals and a certain Romelu Lukaku holds a lot of the difference, but it was Koeman’s failure to land a proven striker that ultimately cost him his job, whoever comes in will have to rectify that in January. They’ll have too much, I feel, to go down, but then again, a lot of clubs before them have said they very same.
14th (-2): Stoke City
Wins: 3 (=) | Draws: 3 (-1) | Losses: 5 (+1) | GD: -9 (-4) | Points: 12 (-1)
This time last year, Mark Hughes’ job was one that was brought up quite frequently regarding the sack race and if you ask any Stoke fan, they won’t be happy with where they are this time around, either.
Not an awful lot happening at Stoke to get the pulses racing which is surprising when you consider they have someone like Shaqiri in their team and worryingly they’re dropping points at home, having only won 2 out of 6. I’ll place Stoke in the same bracket as Southampton despite the fact they’re a few places behind them. Need to improve.
13th (-3): Southampton
Wins: 3 (=) | Draws: 4 (=) | Losses: 4 (=) | GD: -2 (-2) | Points: 13 (=)
More of the same is the best reflection of Southampton’s positioning in the table. Yes, they’re in the bottom half. However, that’s due to the teams around them having more points than them, as opposed to anything that they’ve done differently.
They would have been disappointed to have lost at home to Burnley last time out, a win there would have meant they were in seventh as opposed to thirteenth. For me, the Saints really have hit no man’s land because there’s no danger of them getting dragged into a relegation dogfight. But there’s not much hope of them challenging for the top six, either. It will be interesting to see what happens to the rest of the season.
12th (+2): Leicester City
Wins: 3 (=) | Draws: 4 (+1) | Losses: 4 (-1) | GD: 0 (+5) | Points: 13 (+1)
Claude Puel took over at the East Midlands side after Craig Shakespeare’s dismal start to the season as he struggled to keep up the form which saved Leicester last season, after title-winning boss Claudio Ranieri was sacked in February this year.
Puel will have a personal score to settle with the Saints. So the aim for him on a personal level will probably to be finish above his previous employers and overall, the target will be to break into the top half and stay there and with Demarai Gray signing a new long-term deal, the intent is there for everyone to see.
11th (N/A): Newcastle United
Wins: 4 | Draws: 2 | Losses: 5 | GD: 0 | Points: 14
Nothing to compare it to last time around but its safe to say the ex-Liverpool manager has built his team from the back; this is evident when you look at the fact that they’ve got the fifth best defensive record in the top flight.
Goal scoring hasn’t particularly been their strong point, averaging just under a goal a game but the tactical nous of Benitez means they’re looking very healthy indeed. If the takeover goes through before January and they get some serious investment, who knows where they may end up!
That's the bottom half wrapped up, there are without doubt a few teams who will be disappointed with where they are at this point of the season, now onto the top half...
10th (N/A): Huddersfield Town
Wins: 4 | Draws: 3 | Losses: 4 | GD: -5 | Points: 15
They announced themselves to the world with a clinical 3-0 victory at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park on the opening day and they haven’t looked back with the highlight so far this season being the home win against Manchester United, which was thoroughly deserved. But, one cause for concern for the German boss will be that since that opening day victory at Palace, they’ve only scored five more goals in the other ten games. Positively, If they keep grinding it out, they should be ok and much like Brighton, so far, so good.
9th (-1): Watford
Wins: 4 (=) | Draws: 3 (=) | Losses: 4 (=) | GD: -4 (=) Points: 15 (=)
Watford are in a position worse off than this point last year, but I don’t think any Watford fan can be displeased with the way the season has started in Hertfordshire. Marco Silva, who fought in vain to keep Hull City in the division last year, has continued to win plaudits with his style of football.
How does it compare though to when Walter Mazzarri was in charge? Well, they've scored more goals but also leaked more. Ultimately though, their point tally hasn’t changed and I think if you ask any Hornets fan they’ll be happier this time around.
8th (N/A): Brighton & Hove Albion
Wins: 4 | Draws: 3 | Losses: 4 | GD: 0 | Points: 15
Chris Hughton’s side has adapted to the Premier League like a duck to water especially considering they were tipped by many to have an absolute stinker but they continue to prove the doubters wrong.
Their home form is up there with the best, having only lost once at the AMEX this season and that was to runaway leaders Man City, in addition to that, they’ve picked up two valuable away wins at West Ham and Swansea on their last two excursions.
The biggest question mark will be whether they can maintain it throughout the whole season because all it will take would be a couple of results to go against them and they’ll be right amongst the bottom three. Hughton will certainly have the players believing they can stay up and at the moment, it is so far, so good.
7th (+2): Burnley
Wins: 5 (+1) | Draws: 4 (+2) | Losses: 2 (-3) | GD: 1 (+5) | Points: 19 (+5)
There has been some real improvement with what the Lancashire club have done so far, particularly with their away form and as you can see from above that they’re turning what would have been defeats last year into draws this year.
Andre Gray left to move down to Watford and he was replaced by New Zealander Chris Wood who seems to score every time he has a shot. Meanwhile Gray is struggling to get into the Watford starting line-up, so that was a shrewd piece of business by the Dyche.
Burnley aren’t one of those teams who are going to win a game by three or four goals but when they do something well, they do it very well. If they can keep it up for the next 27 games, could we see Turf Moor hosting European football next year?
6th (-2): Arsenal
Wins: 6 (-1) | Draws: 1 (-2) | Losses: 4 (+3) | GD: 4 (-9) | Points: 19 (-5)
There was a lot of talk in the summer about Wenger, whether he was going to stay or go and then out of nowhere, he was ‘rewarded’ a new two year deal much to the dismay of many Arsenal fans. As is evident from the stats, things are worse than they were at this point last year meaning that tension is yet again running high at the Emirates Stadium.
One positive in an otherwise dismal start to Wenger’s new deal is the signing of Lacazette who really has hit the ground running. They need to get some more wins under their belt before the new year as you’d imagine that it'll be another window disrupted by the Sanchez and Ozil sagas. Surely the board won’t tolerate another year outside the top four?
5th (-4): Liverpool
Wins: 5 (-3) | Draws: 4 (+2) | Losses: 2 (+1) | GD: 4 (-12) | Points: 19 (-7)
The Anfield side are yet to really get going and a lot of the blame could be aimed in the direction of Barcelona’s pursuit of Philippe Coutinho. However, the bigger issue of Klopp not properly addressing their defensive frailties could be argued as the sticking point so far.
On the bright side, it could be said that Mohammed Salah is the signing of the summer, chipping in seven goals in the first eleven games. So he is a huge plus point, however, Klopp will be under no illusion that there is a lot of work to do if they want another season of Champions League football at Anfield.
Liverpool and Arsenal will be eager to break into the top four and will be trying all they can to force their way into the Champions League places and the riches that come with it, after all, they were both there this time last year, so let's have a look at who wasn't and the rest of the top four:
4th (-2): Chelsea
Wins: 7 (-1) | Draws: 1 (=) | Losses: 3 (+1) | GD: 9 (-8) | Points: 22 (-3)
The stats tell their own story with the goal difference being perhaps the biggest indicator that not all is right at Stamford Bridge. They're missing the goals of Diego Costa who has gone to Atletico Madrid and Eden Hazard hasn't had his shooting boots on; there are no two ways about it.
Morata started well but has fizzled out as of late, however, he could well be on the way back after scoring against Man United last weekend.
Will the top four that are there now have changed much by the end of the season? Difficult to say. Nevertheless, it will be a tough task to move City from top spot, especially considering there is an eight-point gap already.
3rd (+2): Tottenham Hotspur
Wins: 7 (+2) | Draws: 2 (-4) | Losses: 2 (+2) | GD: 13 (+4) | Points: 23 (+2)
Spurs are much better on all fronts this time round, they're sitting nicely at the top of their Champions League group which contains Dortmund and Real Madrid and improved across the board in the Premier League as well. Pochettino will want silverware this season and if he carries on the way he is going, he may just end up with his first trophy as Spurs manager.
2nd (+4): Manchester United
Wins: 7 (+2) | Draws: 2 (-1) | Losses: 2 (-1) | GD: 18 (+15) | Points: 23 (+5)
Jose’s team have received a couple of scathing reviews for how they have applied themselves in the bigger games this season, but they started the season like an absolute steam train. United hold the best defensive record in the division and Jose, who has been linked with a move to PSG, will be hoping that the Old Trafford club can reduce the gap between them and their neighbours over the coming weeks.
1st (+2): Manchester City
Wins: 10 (+3) | Draws: 1 (-2) | Losses: 0 (-1) | GD: 31 (+16) | Points: 31 (+7)
A formidable start to the season for Pep's City as they've been, quite literally hitting teams for sixes and sevens and as the only unbeaten side left in the division, there has been some talk in the press about them emulating Arsenal's invincible 03/04 season and they may well be right. They're on fire in Europe as well, putting four goals past domestically unbeaten Napoli in their backyard; scintillating City are the team to catch.
There are some teams that will be thrilled with how they've started the campaign, others will be devastated, it sure does make an interesting comparison, either way.
The race for the Golden Boot also makes fascinating reading;
Last year it was:
2016: Diego Costa – 9 | Sergio Aguero – 8 | Romelu Lukaku – 7 | Eden Hazard - 7
2017: Harry Kane – 8 | Sergio Aguero – 8 | Romelu Lukaku – 7 | Alvaro Morata – 7 | Raheem Sterling – 7 | Mohammed Salah – 7 | Gabriel Jesus - 7
Interestingly, Harry Kane wasn’t even in the TOP TEN goalscorers last year at this point in the year, yet still went on to win the coveted Golden Boot, so just think what damage he can do this year. Another stat that you may or may not know; Kane has only scored two goals in a game this season, he doesn’t bag a single one, he has got a brace in every game he has scored in this year.
So there you have it, a comparison of every Premier League club and how far they have come, of course, its where you finish in May which is the most important, but how you see it now, is likely how it will play out in the long run.
