EPL Table 2013 Week 11: Teams with Opportunity to Shake Up Standings

Arsenal answered some of their critics with a win over Liverpool, Newcastle continued to be the league's most unpredictable team with a victory over Chelsea, Everton and Tottenham played to a scoreless draw and Manchester United and Manchester City each gained ground on the table.  

While there was some fluctuation in the standings, for the most part the top of the table remained the same. And while Arsenal will still be in first place after this week's matchup against Manchester United, the Red Devils are one of several teams this week that can really shake up the standings. 

Let's break down the teams and fixtures that could affect the table this week. 

Standings

Place	Team	Games	Win	Draw	Loss	Goal Differential	Points
1	Arsenal	10	8	1	1	13	25
2	Chelsea	10	6	2	2	8	20
3	Liverpool	10	6	2	2	7	20
4	Tottenham Hotspur	10	6	2	2	4	20
5	Manchester City	10	6	1	3	17	19
6	Southampton	10	5	4	1	7	19
7	Everton	10	5	4	1	4	19
8	Manchester United	10	5	2	3	4	17
9	Newcastle United	10	4	2	4	-2	14
10	Hull City	10	4	2	4	-2	14
11	West Bromwich Albion	10	3	4	3	0	13
12	Cardiff City	10	3	3	4	-4	12
13	Swansea City	10	3	2	5	0	11
14	Aston Villa	10	3	2	5	-3	11
15	West Ham United	10	2	4	4	0	10
16	Fulham	10	3	1	6	-5	10
17	Stoke City	10	2	3	5	-4	9
18	Norwich City	10	2	2	6	-14	8
19	Sunderland	10	1	1	8	-15	4
20	Crystal Palace	10	1	0	9	-15	3

Manchester United vs. Arsenal

United not only have a chance to take a chunk out of Arsenal's five-point lead atop the Premier League table, but they could also shoot way up the standings with a win and a lot of losses above them.

United are currently at 17 points, and with three teams at 20 points and three more at 19, a statement win over Arsenal could also be a huge win in the standings. But here's the rub—if United were to lose this game, they would go 11 points behind the Gunners. 

Yes, they would have 27 games to recover those points, but that's a huge deficit to overcome, even for the defending champions. Given their recent form, however—they've now won four matches in a row in all competitions—United should at least earn a draw at Old Trafford. 

Tottenham vs. Newcastle

With a win, Tottenham could find themselves at No. 2 on the table after next week. With a loss, Spurs will surely lose ground to teams like Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton, all of whom have very winnable matches this week. 

Newcastle has a dangerous case of the "plays to the level of their competition" disease. Newcastle nearly erased a 3-0 deficit to Everton earlier in the season, losing 3-2, drew with Liverpool 2-2 and just beat Chelsea 2-0.

Oh, and they also lost to Sunderland, the only win of the season for the 19th-placed squad. 

Newcastle has the firepower to upset Spurs. Whether they show up for the match or not is another thing altogether.

Norwich City vs. West Ham

Okay, okay, so this match will have no impact on the top of the standings. But it is a pretty important battle down at the bottom, as Norwich can battle out of the relegation zone with a win over 15th-place West Ham, just two points above Norwich at the moment. 

While Norwich probably doesn't need to be worrying about relegation just yet—while Crystal Palace and Sunderland have been absolutely miserable, Norwich have at least managed to earn points in four of their matches—earning three points against a fellow bottom-of-the-table team, at home, is crucial.