Premier League Table 2013 Week 11: Teams Likely to Rise and Fall

The Premier League is as competitive this season as it has been in its post-1992 existence, with just six points separating nine of the league's top-10 sides.

Teams that have been the focus of media attention for their slow starts—Manchester United, for example—lie just a win away from "high-flying" Liverpool. It could barely be tighter, and such competitiveness at this early stage offers much hope of a truly memorable season.

What it also means is that each week's action threatens to bring about a number of significant changes in the table. So, what do Week 11's fixtures have to offer? Here is the Premier League table followed by predicted risers and fallers.

Pos.	Club	Played	W	D	L	Points
1	Arsenal	10	8	1	1	25
2	Chelsea	10	6	2	2	20
3	Liverpool	10	6	2	2	20
4	Tottenham Hotspur	10	6	2	2	20
5	Manchester City	10	6	1	3	19
6	Southampton	10	5	4	1	19
7	Everton	10	5	4	1	19
8	Manchester United	10	5	2	3	17
9	Newcastle United	10	4	2	4	14
10	Hull City	10	4	2	4	14
11	West Bromwich Albion	10	3	4	3	13
12	Cardiff City	10	3	3	4	12
13	Swansea City	10	3	2	5	11
14	Aston Villa	10	3	2	5	11
15	West Ham United	10	2	4	4	10
16	Fulham	10	3	1	6	10
17	Stoke City	10	2	3	5	9
18	Norwich City	10	2	2	6	8
19	Sunderland	10	1	1	8	4
20	Crystal Palace	10	1	0	9	3

Risers

After their derby defeat to Cardiff City, one of the most obvious teams with the potential to move up the league this weekend are Swansea City.

A home fixture against Stoke City is eminently winnable, given that the visitors have not won in their past six fixtures, while the Potters have won just once on five away trips this campaign.

While Swansea's home record is far from brilliant this term, winning one of five league outings at the Liberty Stadium, they will expect to set the record straight this weekend.

With Hull, Cardiff, Newcastle and West Brom above them all facing difficult away trips, to Southampton, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Chelsea respectively, there is a great opportunity for the Swans to move up the league table.

In a similar position to Swansea are Aston Villa, who lie level on points with the Welsh outfit. The Villans will host Cardiff City on Saturday and will hope to earn a second home win of the campaign.

While Villa may not have been great at home, losing four of five this term, Cardiff have been equally as poor on their travels, winning only once. Beating Cardiff at home should be the expectation of all Premier League sides this campaign.

Villa would likely move into the top half with a win, given the fixtures of their rivals listed above. And having already played many of the league's top sides, Paul Lambert's men should be well placed to maintain that position until the mid-point of the season.

Fallers

Given the predictions above, it is only fair to say that Hull, Cardiff, Newcastle and West Brom look like candidates to drop a few places this coming weekend. They will play three of the league's top sides thus far this season, while Cardiff face Villa as described above, and all will be happy to escape with a point.

As far as the top of the table goes, it would seem unlikely that Week 11 will bring too many changes, with the majority of teams facing opposition they would generally expect to beat.

Only Manchester United and Arsenal, who square off at Old Trafford, face a difficult weekend on paper. Arsenal's five-point lead means they will stay top even if they lose, so it is to the bottom of the league that we must look.

Norwich host West Ham in what will be, perhaps, the most fiercely contested of all the week's games, and the Canaries are in desperate need of a win to resurrect their season.

They battered Cardiff to no avail a fortnight ago but have also struggled defensively, conceding more shots than any side except Fulham and Cardiff, per WhoScored.

West Ham, though, are stunningly mediocre in attack and lack weapons to really hurt sides. If Norwich can click as they threatened earlier in the season, when they challenged better sides and beat Southampton, they can win the game on Saturday.

Should they do so, it would be problematic for Stoke City, who could fall into the relegation places, while Norwich would also leapfrog West Ham and Fulham in the process.