English Premier League Power Poll, Week 12

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Chaos reigns this week in the B/R English Premier League Power Poll.

Manchester United and Chelsea both suffered upsets at the weekend, and those losses prompted a couple questions for our pollsters.

How far did each team drop? How high should West Brom and Norwich rise? And what to do with Manchester City?

Find out the answers, along with the full rankings, inside.

Methodology

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For these rankings, the voters cast their ballots based on the "power rankings" style.

That means voters ranked each club based on which teams they thought were the best, keeping in mind recent results and the league table.

Eight B/R personalities voted in this week's poll. All the votes were counted on a points system. A first-place vote counted as 20 points, a second-place vote as 19 and so on.

 

Explanation of terms

Points: The total number of points the team received via our voters' rankings. A first-place vote counted as 20 points, a second-place vote as 19 and so on.

Last-place votes: The number of last-place votes the team received from our voters.

First-place votes: The number of first-place votes the team received from our voters.

Last time: The team's ranking in the previous poll. Click here for the previous rankings.

Table: The team's position in the English Premier League table, along with current points total. Click here for the full table.

Results: The team's results since our last rankings.

Fixtures: The team's upcoming matches.

Meet the Voters

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Aliko Carter: B/R front-page editor. @AlikoCarter

John Greely: B/R world football assistant editor. @johnwgreely

Adam Hirshfield: B/R deputy editor. @ahirshfield

Dan Levy: B/R national lead writer. @DanLevyThinks

Brad Read: B/R world football newsletter. @ReadBrad

Sean Swaby: B/R featured columnist coordinator. @seanswaby

Will Tidey: B/R world football lead writer and editor. @willtidey

Michael Cummings: B/R world football lead writer and poll organizer. @MikeCummings37

Complete Poll

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1. Manchester City

2. Manchester United

3. West Bromwich Albion

4. Chelsea

5. Arsenal

6. Everton

7. West Ham United

8. Liverpool

9. Swansea City

10. Tottenham Hotspur

11. Norwich City

12. Fulham

13. Newcastle United

14. Stoke City

15. Sunderland

16. Reading

17. Wigan Athletic

18. Southampton

19. Aston Villa

20. Queens Park Rangers

20. Queens Park Rangers

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Points: 8

Last time: 20

Last-place votes: 8

Table: 20th, 4 points

Results: Lost 3-1 home to Southampton

Fixtures: At Man United, Saturday

A 3-1 loss to Southampton? At home? Word out of Loftus Road is that QPR have broached the subject of Mark Hughes’ resignation (via The Independent).

Dan: OK, I've finally changed my logic. Now I hope QPR never wins a match. It may be harder to go all 38 games without a win, so I'm rooting for that.

19. Aston Villa

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Points: 20

Last time: 16

Table: 18th, 9 points

Results: Lost 5-0 at Man City

Fixtures: Home to Arsenal, Saturday

Villa dropped into the relegation zone after a harrowing 5-0 loss at Manchester City over the weekend. Up next, a visit from suddenly free-scoring Arsenal.

18. Southampton

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Points: 25

Last time: 19

Table: 19th, 8 points

Results: Won 3-1 at QPR

Fixtures: Home to Newcastle, Sunday

Rickie Lambert scored his fifth league goal as Southampton beat fellow relegation-strugglers QPR 3-1 at Loftus Road. The Saints are now just one points (and admittedly quite a bit of goal difference) away from safety.

Hey, it’s never too early to start thinking about the relegation scrap.

17. Wigan Athletic

Chris Brunskill/Getty Images

Points: 38

Last time: 14

Table: 16th, 11 points

Results: Lost 3-0 at Liverpool

Fixtures: Home to Reading, Saturday

Wigan have lost two matches in a row after moving up to 12th place with back-to-back victories. Instant redemption could be in the cards when Reading visit this weekend.

16. Reading

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Points: 45

Last time: 18

Table: 17th, 9 points

Results: Won 2-1 home to Everton

Fixtures: At Wigan, Saturday

Reading recorded the first victory of their return to the top flight by beating Everton last weekend. The Royals are now unbeaten in their last four matches and find themselves outside the relegation zone.

15. Sunderland

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Points: 46

Last time: 17

Table: 15th, 12 points

Results: Won 3-1 at Fulham

Fixtures: Home to West Brom, Saturday

The win over Fulham snapped a two-match losing streak. Now, can Sunderland build momentum against upstarts West Brom?

Adam: The best bad team in the Premier League. Very, very underrated side that plays well at home.

14. Stoke City

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Points: 49

Last time: 12 (tie)

Table: 14th, 13 points

Results: Drew 1-1 at West Ham

Fixtures: Home to Fulham, Saturday

After the stalemate at Upton Park on Monday, Stoke have drawn a league-most seven matches this season.

13. Newcastle United

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Points: 61

Last time: 11

Table: 12th, 14 points

Results: Lost 2-1 home to Swansea

Fixtures: At Southampton, Sunday

Back-to-back defeats have seen Newcastle drop to 12th place, their lowest position of the season.

On the bright side, Demba Ba has scored eight league goals.

12. Fulham

Julian Finney/Getty Images

Points: 77

Last time: 9

Table: 9th, 16 points

Results: Lost 3-1 home to Sunderland

Fixtures: At Stoke, Saturday

Like Swansea, Fulham have won four, lost four and drawn four. The Cottagers have scored 25 goals and allowed 22.

Never a dull moment, it would seem.

11. Norwich City

Christopher Lee/Getty Images

Points: 84

Last time: 15

Table: 13th, 14 points

Results: Won 1-0 home to Man United

Fixtures: At Everton, Saturday

Norwich have defeated both Arsenal and Manchester United this season. With the Canaries now up to 13th, Chris Hughton appears to have righted the course after a rough start at Carrow Road.

Sean: John Ruddy: Rivals of United are in debt to you, sir. Seriously, though, his performance was remarkable.

10. Tottenham Hotspur

Clive Rose/Getty Images

Points: 90

Last time: 7

Table: 8th, 17 points

Results: Lost 5-2 at Arsenal

Fixtures: Home to West Ham, Sunday

In control from start to finish, eh Andre?

That’s three straight losses for Spurs, who now have a negative goal differential.

Sean: Arsenal have Adebayor to thank for the first time since 2009.

9. Swansea City

Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

Points: 94

Last time: 12 (tie)

Table: 10th, 16 points

Results: Won 2-1 at Newcastle

Fixtures: Home to Liverpool, Sunday

Swansea have won four matches, lost four matches and drawn four matches this season. Almost improbably, the Swans have a plus-two goal differential.

8. Liverpool

Chris Brunskill/Getty Images

Points: 99

Last time: 10

Table: 11th, 15 points

Results: Won 3-0 home to Wigan

Fixtures: At Swansea, Sunday

Liverpool’s unbeaten run now stands at seven matches. Luis Suarez is now the league’s top scorer with 10 goals.

The sun is starting to come out from behind the clouds at Anfield.

7. West Ham United

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Points: 107

Last time: 6

Table: 7th, 19 points

Results: Drew 1-1 home to Stoke

Fixtures: At Spurs, Sunday

Anyone else fancy West Ham at Spurs this weekend?

6. Everton

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Points: 115

Last time: 4

Table: 5th, 20 points

Results: Lost 2-1 at Reading

Fixtures: Home to Norwich, Saturday

The loss to Reading snapped an eight-match unbeaten run. Now the Toffees have to face the league’s new giant killers from Carrow Road.

Dan: Good teams need to beat Reading to stay in the top four. They need to find a way to get a result against the bottom of the table almost every time.

5. Arsenal

Clive Rose/Getty Images

Points: 126

Last time: 8

Table: 6th, 19 points

Results: Won 5-2 home to Spurs

Fixtures: At Aston Villa, Saturday

Where have we seen that score before? Ah, yes, that’s right.

Maybe this 5-2 win over Spurs will also spark another long run of good form.

Sean: Flaws be damned: Arsenal beat Tottenham. Arsenal supporters will sleep well (for once) until the Gunners' next infuriating performance.

4. Chelsea

Michael Regan/Getty Images

Points: 137

Last time: 3

Table: 3rd, 24 points

Results: Lost 2-1 at West Brom

Fixtures: Home to Man City, Sunday

Chelsea are winless in four matches and, after losing to Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday, manager Roberto Di Matteo is out (via The Guardian).

Considering who his boss is was, no one should be surprised.

3. West Bromwich Albion

Michael Regan/Getty Images

Points: 142

Last time: 5

Table: 4th, 23 points

Results: Won 2-1 home to Chelsea

Fixtures: At Sunderland, Saturday

Last week we asked whether it was time yet to stop calling West Brom a fluke. Guess we found the answer we were looking for.

Dan: For at least one week, they deserve the second slot for sure.

Sean: Do I actually think they'll finish in front of Chelsea? Maybe not. But they just beat the Blues, and until they show us otherwise, a fluke they're not and here they stay.

2. Manchester United

Christopher Lee/Getty Images

Points: 147

Last time: 1

Table: 2nd, 27 points

Results: Lost 1-0 at Norwich

Fixtures: Home to QPR, Saturday

Losing at Norwich knocked United off the summit of the Premier League after a two-week stay.

The Red Devils have conceded an eye-popping 17 goals in 12 matches so far. If Fergie wants to wrestle the title back from the noisy neighbors, he’d better figure out that defense, and fast.

Adam: It's tough to win a trophy with uninspired losses to bad teams. To be considered the cream of the crop (rather than the cream of the "crap," as I originally wrote), they have to stop playing down to their opponents (see: Southampton, Aston Villa, Norwich).

Sean: I would pay a small fortune to watch Sir Alex go all Dennis Green after that. “Norwich are who we thought they were!” 

1. Manchester City

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Points: 160

First-place votes: 8

Weeks at No. 1: First week

Last time: 2

Table: 1st, 28 points

Results: Won 5-0 home to Aston Villa

Fixtures: At Chelsea, Sunday

Look who’s back on top.

City have won six of seven and remain the league’s only unbeaten team. With Chelsea coming to the Etihad this weekend, Roberto Mancini’s men have a chance to put daylight between themselves and a would-be title rival.

Dan: A 5-0 victory that retook the top spot in the league table? How ever did Roberto Mancini manage to survive another week?

 

Follow @MikeCummings37