English Premier League Power Poll: Week 32
The title race is still dead, but Manchester City are alive and kicking, thanks to the brilliance of Sergio Aguero.
Aguero, the Argentine forward who scored City's dramatic title-winning goal last spring, grabbed the winner Monday as City downed rivals Manchester United in a thrilling Manchester Derby. United remained 12 points clear atop the table, but the game might give City some momentum heading into their FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea this weekend.
How did the Manchester Derby affect this week's B/R English Premier League Power Poll? Keep reading to find out.
How It Works
1 of 22Nine B/R personalities ranked all 20 Premier League clubs. Voters were asked to rank the teams based on both recent results and the season as a whole. A first-place vote counted as 20 points, a second-place vote as 19 and so on.
In each slide, "Points" refers to the number of points accumulated by each team via the voters. "Previous" refers to each team's ranking in the previous edition of our poll.
The voters this week were:
Aliko Carter: @AlikoCarter
John Greely: @johnwgreely
Adam Hirshfield: @ahirshfield
Dan Levy: @DanLevyThinks
Ian Rodgers: @irodgers66
Sean Swaby: @seanswaby
Will Tidey: @willtidey
Sam Tighe: @stighefootball
Michael Cummings: @MikeCummings37
Complete Rankings
2 of 221. Manchester United
2. Manchester City
3. Arsenal
4. Chelsea
5. Tottenham Hotspur
6. Liverpool
7. Everton
8. Southampton
9. Fulham
10. West Bromwich Albion
11. Aston Villa
12. (tie) West Ham United
12. (tie) Newcastle United
14. Swansea City
15. Wigan Athletic
16. Norwich City
17. Queens Park Rangers
18. Sunderland
19. Stoke City
20. Reading
20. Reading
3 of 22Points: 10
Previous: 20
Result: Lost 2-0 home to Southampton
Fixture: Home to Liverpool, Saturday
The arrival of new manager Nigel Adkins has brought the same depressing results. Reading have lost seven straight league matches.
Will: Close your ears, Reading fans. That noise you hear is next season's 20 Premier League clubs getting disgustingly rich.
19. Stoke City
4 of 22Points: 27
Previous: 15
Result: Lost 3-1 home to Aston Villa
Fixture: Home to Manchester United, Sunday
Stoke have lost five of six and have won only one of their last 12 matches in the league.
Coincidentally, the Potters now sit only three points above the relegation zone.
Will: Only Michael Owen can save them now. Or maybe not.
Sean: Oh, how the mighty defend-and-kick-one-over-the-toppers have fallen: not long ago, they were vying for a spot in Europe. At current form, they may fall into the dreaded drop zone.
18. Sunderland
5 of 22Points: 31
Previous: 18
Result: Lost 2-1 at Chelsea
Fixture: At Newcastle, Sunday
New manager Paolo Di Canio's blend of tactics and fascism yielded a familiar result for Sunderland last weekend.
Can he turn it around in time, or are the Black Cats doomed? We're leaning towards the latter.
17. Queens Park Rangers
6 of 22Points: 38
Previous: 19
Result: Drew 1-1 home to Wigan
Fixture: At Everton, Saturday
After Sunday's heartbreaking draw at home to Wigan, QPR are seven points adrift of safety with six matches remaining. It's not looking good.
Will: Will Harry Redknapp stay around for a run at the Championship?
Adam: Hideously unlucky to have split the points on the weekend. This is a side with lots of promise, especially on the attack. But it's likely too little too late to stay up.
Dan: Out of the cellar! But for what is that worth, as they are still eight points out of escaping the relegation zone.
Sean: No. They. Can't!
16. Norwich City
7 of 22Points: 48
Previous: 14
Result: Drew 2-2 home to Swansea
Fixture: At Arsenal, Saturday
Norwich are winless in their last five league matches and are suddenly only four points above the relegation zone.
Will: Things are starting to look a little precarious for the Canaries.
15. Wigan Athletic
8 of 22Points: 66
Previous: 16
Result: Drew 1-1 at QPR
Fixture: At Man City, April 17
Wigan's draw at QPR saw the Latics slide back into the relegation zone, but with a match in hand, Roberto Martinez's team might be one of the favorites to avoid the drop.
Will: Roberto Martinez looks like he's going to steer them to safety...and then take a better job?
14. Swansea City
9 of 22Points: 80
Previous: 12
Result: Drew 2-2 at Norwich
Fixture: Home to Southampton, April 20
The draw at Norwich snapped a three-game losing skid for the Swans.
12. (tie) Newcastle United
10 of 22Points: 81
Previous: 13
Result: Won 1-0 home to Fulham
Fixture: Home to Sunderland, Sunday
Judging by the way Papiss Cisse celebrated his goal, we're gonna guess that the Magpies were pretty pleased with that win over Fulham.
12. (tie) West Ham United
11 of 22Points: 81
Previous: 17
Result: Drew 0-0 at Liverpool
Fixture: At Southampton, Saturday
It's a good thing West Ham started strongly. The Hammers have collected only 14 points in their last 14 matches
11. Aston Villa
12 of 22Points: 82
Previous: 10 (tie)
Result: Won 3-1 at Stoke
Fixture: Home to Fulham, Saturday
With three wins in four tries, Villa are finally free from the relegation mess. Now's no time to let up, though.
Sean: Midseason debacles notwithstanding, in current form they survive this relegation scrap.
10. West Bromwich Albion
13 of 22Points: 88
Previous: 8
Result: Lost 2-1 home to Arsenal
Fixture: Home to Newcastle, April 20
Remember what we said about West Ham? Same goes for West Brom, only worse.
In their last 13 league matches, the Baggies have collected 11 points. During that time they've suffered a three-game losing streak and two two-game skids (the second of which is still active).
Yikes.
9. Fulham
14 of 22Points: 95
Previous: 7
Result: Lost 1-0 at Newcastle
Fixture: At Aston Villa, Saturday
The loss to Newcastle snapped Fulham's five-match unbeaten run.
8. Southampton
15 of 22Points: 122
Previous: 10 (tie)
Result: Won 2-0 at Reading
Fixture: Home to West Ham, Saturday
Southampton are riding high after three straight wins. With 37 points, the Saints look like a solid bet to beat the drop.
With that, we'll hand it over to Sean for some alliterative analysis.
Sean: Suddenly surging Saints finding their edge at the right time.
7. Everton
16 of 22Points: 126
Previous: 4
Result: Drew 2-2 at Spurs
Fixture: Home to QPR, Saturday
Everton were minutes from a valuable win at Spurs, but they conceded late and still trail Tottenham by six points (albeit with a match in hand).
Dan: Totally blew any chance at the top four with the late concession at White Hart Lane. The story of the season, truly.
6. Liverpool
17 of 22Points: 129
Previous: 9
Result: Drew 0-0 home to West Ham
Fixture: At Reading, Saturday
Liverpool's European dreams are slipping away, slowly but steadily.
5. Tottenham Hotspur
18 of 22Points: 130
Previous: 6
Result: Drew 2-2 home to Everton
Fixture: Home to Man City, April 21
Don't know if you heard, but Gareth Bale is injured. So, the question is: Do you think Spurs are the same team without him?
Yeah, that's what we thought.
Sean: Spurs have a few weeks to try and silence those Tottenham-are-a-one-man-team accusers (hand raised).
4. Chelsea
19 of 22Points: 151
Previous: 2
Result: Won 2-1 home to Sunderland
Fixture: At Fulham, April 17
Fernando Torres ought to change his name legally to Zorro. He's playing like a swashbuckling adventurer right now, and the name-change really wouldn't hurt.
Will: Rafa Benitez has Chelsea alive in two cups and on course for third place. The fans must love him there.
3. Arsenal
20 of 22Points: 162
Previous: 3
Result: Won 2-1 at West Brom
Fixture: Home to Norwich, Saturday
Two fun stats to continue the good vibes flowing around Arsenal these days.
First, the Gunners are unbeaten when scoring first this season.
Second, they've received four red cards this season, most in the league.
OK, so one out of two ain't bad.
Sean: Supporters are happy, they're hailing Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey and Flappyhandski is suddenly a rock in goal. What the hell is going on here? I don't care, but I'll take it.
2. Manchester City
21 of 22Points: 171
Previous: 5
Result: Won 2-1 at Man United
Fixture: Home to Wigan, April 17
To put into perspective how far behind Manchester City are in the table, consider this. Even after beating United on Monday, City still have six fewer wins than their rivals.
Dan: A nice win for the highlight tape, but it won't matter much in the end.
Sean: Why, exactly, are there Aguero-to-leave-City rumors again? OK, he's good. But he also spites United, which should be more than enough reason to do everything in their power to keep him around.
1. Manchester United
22 of 22Points: 172
Previous: 1
Result: Lost 2-1 home to Man City
Fixture: At Stoke City, Saturday
That was United's first loss in the league since Nov. 17. The Red Devils still hold a 12-point lead atop the table.
Will: Job done, title won, but United have gone flat. It's clear they need to be reinvigorated over the summer.
