The FI R&R’s for January have now been calculated and show some considerable movement…

The Football Intelligence Ratings and Rankings takes the top teams in the English Premier League, picks their best eleven in a nominal 4-4-2 formation and rates and ranks the players against each other.

Rankings:

1. Chelsea (1.0)
2. Manchester United, +2 places (0.87, +0.15)
3. Tottenham Hotspur, -1 (0.55, -0.42)
=  Arsenal, 0 (0.55, -0.22)
=  Liverpool, +3 (0.55, -0.12)
6. Aston Villa, -1 (0.47, -0.19)
7. Manchester City, 0 (0.46, -0.15)

Ratings:

1. Chelsea, 0 (8.36, -0.19)
2. Manchester United, +1 (8.36, +0.09)
3. Arsenal, +1 (7.73, -0.45)
4. Tottenham Hotspur, -2 (7.55, -0.81)
=  Liverpool, +1 (7.55, -0.27)
6. Manchester City, 0 (7.09, -0.18)
7. Aston Villa, 0 (7.09, -0.18)

Conclusions:

In case you didn’t know, the top seven team in the Premier League are having a tough time of it.  Only Manchester United can legitimately say they improved through the month of January.

Chelsea remain the team to beat however their Rating has gone down primarily because of the loss of Ashley Cole.

Manchester United now rank second but rate level with Chelsea and would have gone ahead without Nani’s red card.

Tottenham Hotspur have been the biggest losers in January.  Spurning their chance to prove they are worthy of fourth place with an insipid display against Liverpool, failure to convert dominance into a victory over Aston Villa (which makes twice this season) and terrible displays in drawing at home to Hull and losing to Wolves.  They still rate 4th equal however and the R&R’s show three things; 1. they are heavily reliant and badly miss, Aaron Lennon. 2. Even without Lennon, they have been under-performing.  3. They still have a team capable of finishing fourth even if it is looking increasingly unlikely.

Arsenal, even with defeats with against Manchester United and Chelsea have improved their standing because their Ratings have gone down less than those around them.  This was born out in their victory against Liverpool.

Liverpool’s standing has improved slightly though their Rating has gone even with Dirk Kuyt’s purple patch.  While Manchester City, Villa and Spurs have been atrophying, Liverpool have remained almost the same despite the return of Steven Gerrard.  This suggests that the return of Fernando Torres will see them improve enough to overtake those around them.

Aston Villa’s defence is has improved slightly less than their attack has degraded.

Manchester City again show that their squad is stonger than any actual XI they can put out.

So from last month where Liverpool were out of the top four race and Manchester United were also vulnerable, the top three have shored up their positions with the race for the title becoming closer and Liverpool are right back in the hunt for fourth place.  The Ratings and Rankings suggest that should they get Torres back soon, they will qualify for the Champions League yet again.

Not exactly astounding insight there but the R&R’s also show that should that happen, the only excuse Tottenham, Villa and City will have is that they needlessly underperformed.

The Football Intelligence Ratings and Rankings takes the top teams in the English Premier League, picks their best eleven in a nominal 4-4-2 formation and rates and ranks the players against each other.

The Ranking is from 1-7 with 1 the best and 7 the worst player. There are no equal rankings.  Rankings are then totaled, then matched against the top Ranked team.
The Rating is done by ranking each player against the top Ranked player who is Rated at 10.  The Ratings are then totalled and averaged.

The Rankings take into account ability, form and fitness.

Rankings:

1. Chelsea (1.0)
2. Tottenham Hotspur (0.97)
3. Arsenal (0.77)
4. Manchester United (0.72)
5. Aston Villa (0.67)
6. Liverpool (0.67)
7. Manchester City (0.61)

Ratings:

1. Chelsea (8.55)
2. Tottenham Hotspur (8.36)
3. Manchester United (8.27)
4. Arsenal (8.18)
5. Liverpool (7.82)
6. Manchester City (7.27)
7. Aston Villa (7.27)

Conclusions:

Chelsea are the strongest team and are in the best form.  African Cup of Nations aside, they are clearly the best team in the league, currently.

Tottenham Hotspur have a superb team with three best-in-position players.  They are at least on a par with Manchester United whose best eleven is surprisingly short on quality and Arsenal who are perhaps penalised by the 4-4-2 assumption.

Manchester City have a good squad but relatively poor first eleven.  Craig Bellamy and Shea Given are their best players by some margin.

Liverpool’s team is surprisingly good with Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Javier Mascherano, Glen Johnson and Jose Reina scoring well.

It makes Liverpool versus Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday an absolutely critical event for both teams.

Full prediction to come.

In the mean time, Chelsea remain the best bet for the Premier League title with the top four comprising of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

Manchester United being a good outside bet for missing out on the Champions League places.

If you’re of a similar mind, Betfair is a good place match small, outside bets.

Click here to have a look at potential bets to make and match on Betfair.