There are big changes in the Power Rankings this week following huge results, major upsets and statement wins.
Power Rankings:
10. Villarreal 🆕
A tight race for tenth between AS Roma and Villarreal was won by the latter after the former lost to Lille at home in the UEFA Europa League.
The Yellow Submarine are enjoying a strong start to the campaign as they sit third in the LaLiga table having lost just one of their first seven games. Their 2-2 draw with Juventus on Wednesday means they are yet to win in the UEFA Champions League this year, but they came out of the trip to Turin with plenty of credit.
A trip to Real Madrid this Saturday will tell us a lot more about just how good they can be this season.
9. Liverpool ⬇️ (last week: 4)
Two poor back-to-back performances from Liverpool sees them slide all the way down to ninth in the Power Rankings.
After falling to a late Eddie Nketiah goal against Crystal Palace at the weekend, they were beaten again in midweek as Galatasaray pulled off one of the shocks of the season. Then again, maybe we should be all that shock when Liverpool are playing like this.
8. Man City 🆕
Manchester City battered Burnley 5-1 at the weekend before drawing 2-2 with AS Monaco in the Champions League. Pep Guardiola will be disappointed that they failed to push on after taking the lead twice, but at least their attack appears to be clicking a bit more lately.
City have the second best expected goal difference (+4.9xGD) behind Arsenal (+5.2xGD) in the Premier League after six games, according to FBref.
7. AC Milan ⬆️ (last week: 10)
There were questions about our decision to rank AC Milan but not Napoli last week, but Maz Allegri’s men have proven us right. A huge 2-1 win over Antonio Conte’s side on Sunday saw them leap into top spot in the table.
Three teams are now tied at the summit, with Roma joining Milan and Napoli on 12 points after five games. Juventus, who lie one point behind in fourth,
6. Arsenal ⬆️ (last week: 8)
Arsenal are unbeaten in all competitions since their defeat to Liverpool at the end of August, winning five of their six outings and drawing the other with Manchester City during that period.
The Gunners made ground on Liverpool in the Premier League table after coming from behind to dramatically beat Newcastle United away. They made harder work of Olympiacos than necessary in the Champions League, but still came away with a 2-0 win.
5. Atletico Madrid 🆕
Out of nowhere like an RKO, Atletico Madrid have rocketed into the top five of the Power Rankings with two statement victories in the space of a few days.
Diego Simeone’s troops ended Real Madrid’s 100 per cent start to the campaign with a 5-2 win at the Metropolitano, with four different names on the scoresheet.
Atleti then followed that up with a 5-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League, with five different players scoring, including Antoine Griezmann for his 200th for the club. Who says Simeone teams can’t ball?
4. Real Madrid ⬇️ (last week: 2)
The spectacular fashion in which Real Madrid’s perfect record was ended by their neighbours was completely unexpected. Luckily for Xabi Alonso, his squad had the perfect opportunity to put it past them almost immediately against the Champions League’s whipping boys.
Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick before Eduardo Camavinga and Brahim Diaz chipped in with late goals to complete a five-star win over Kairat Almaty.
3. Barcelona (no change)
Barcelona would have been hoping to lay down a marker against a weakened Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, but instead surrendered a lead to lose at home.
Their attack looked as frightening as ever and they should have scored more than once in the 2-1 defeat. But the defence looked ropey, which feels more and more like a feature of Hansi Flick’s system than a bug.
That said, they have conceded the joint-fewest goals (5) in LaLiga so far this term and sit top of the table following a comeback win of their own against Real Sociedad at the weekend.
2. PSG ⬆️ (last week: 5)
No Ousmane Dembele, no Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, no Desire Doue. No problem.
PSG went to Barcelona without their star studded front three and came away with a win anyway. It looked ropey at first for the French outfit as Barça cut them open at the back, but they bounced back from Ferran Torres’ opener through a Senny Mayulu goal and Goncalo Ramos’ late winner.
Perhaps it was a bit premature of us to demote them down to fifth last week, but we’re happy to correct that now.
1. Bayern Munich (no change)
Vincent Kompany’s men did not face tough tests this past week from Werder Bremen and Pafos FC. But two wins and nine goals sees them retain top spot, with no team yet to take a single point from them this season.
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