Before the season kicked off, we went a few buttons deep on our season preview and table prediction and from that original post we’ll adjust the league power rankings as the season goes on. Here’s a peak at the official table after the opening weekend:
Check back here if you need a little refresher on where we thought teams would wind up. 10 games have come and gone to open up the new campaign this is where the teams sit.
1. Manchester United (?? 2 spots)
It paints me to say, but Manchester United looked incredible on Sunday. Two goals from Lukaku and one from Pogba made the nearly £200m spent on the pair over the last two summers look worth it. And another was chipped in by Anthony Martial who has the potential to be the ideal winger to supplement this attack (sorry Rashford) as the Red Devils dismantled the new look Hammers.
2. Manchester City (?? 1 spot)
To no fault of their own City slipped a spot. Man City took care of business against newly promoted Brighton, but didn’t shine in the way their neighbors did.
3. Tottenham (?? 2 spots)
With things deadlocked in the second half, Premier League villain, Jonjo Shelvey made his return to the league one to remember by stepping on the ankle of Tottenham midfielder, Dele Alli.
YEP ? https://t.co/Ui1rUuTzfX
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) August 13, 2017
And from there Tottenham rolled behind the golden assist creating boots of Christian Eriksen.
4. Arsenal (?? no change)
It took a few comebacks and two late goals, but Arsenal somehow found a way to not bottle their season opener against Leicester and got themselves off on the right foot to start 17/18, albeit barely. But, don’t let a win overshadow just how bad this team is defensively.
5. Everton (?? 1 spot)
Wayne Rooney back home with an ideal debut. All of a sudden Everton’s summer spending is looking like it may mold into something worth keeping an eye on, with seemingly more to come before the window closes.
6. Liverpool (?? no change)
A very similar game to Arsenal, without the late game heroics to pull out 3 points. Also, similar in the fact that the defense is in a troublesome state (a guarantee when Alberto Moreno finds himself in your starting XI).
7. Chelsea (?? 5 spots)
I admit I was overly optimistic about Chelsea going into this season and Saturday morning proved that as the defending champions got steamrolled by Burnley to the tune of 3 goals and 2 red cards as composure was lost almost from the get go.
But, the introduction of new boy, Alvaro Morata, saw the Blues one offside call away from a historic comeback. I’m not ready to give up yet.
8. West Brom (?? 4 spots)
When it came to the mid-table teams, West Brom was one of the few to take care of business on the opening weekend.
9. Southampton (?? 1 spot)
10. Swansea (?? no change)
11. Watford (?? 4 spots)
The Hornets hung in with consensus Top-6 pick, Liverpool and went punch for punch with one of the league’s elite teams including a wild extra time equalizer to ensure 1-point for their troubles.
12. Leicester City (?? 2 spots)
Close, but no cigar in the cruelest sense. The Foxes let one slip through their grasps that could have been what propelled them to a turn around season out of the gate.
13. Crystal Palace (?? 2 spots)
An embarrassing debut for Frank de Boer against the newly promoted Huddersfield Town in what should have been an easy confidence booster to open the year.
14. West Ham (?? 5 spots)
An absolutely lifeless performance out of the London side against a team in Manchester United that should’ve pulled the very best performance from them, instead they looked like a Championship-caliber side with no business stepping on the field at Old Trafford.
15. Newcastle (?? 4 spots)
The return to the Premier League after a season long hiatus looked to be too big of an occasion as both mentally and physically they were outmatched by the Spurs
16. Huddersfield (?? 3 spots)
What a tremendous start to life in the Premier League notching a victory in their first ever game in this iteration of England’s top flight. An occasion worthy of inducing some excitement out of Professor Xavier:
Our lads, our team, our Club-@htafcdotcom Welcome to the Premiership, you marvels. pic.twitter.com/eMtahX8vFW
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) August 12, 2017
17. Burnley (?? 3 spots)
Burnley was one Alvaro Morata touch away from squandering a 3 goal and 2 man lead and finding themselves at the very bottom of these Power Rankings, but to my dismay they held on after a proper waxing of the defending champions in the opening half.
18. Bournemouth (?? 2 spots)
The way to survive in the Premier League as a mid-table side, is to beat those below you and those on par, something Bournemouth failed to do.
19. Stoke (?? 2 spots)
I’m going to be blunt, I think Stoke is a dreadful team and this area of the rankings will be a regular occurrence.
20. Brighton & Hove Albion (?? 2 spots)
Tough break having to open their time in the Premier League against the fighting Pep Guardiolas, not much you can do there.
We’ll be back next week to see how matches turned out and there may be a real depressed undertone to the rankings if Chelsea fail to produce against Tottenham and I’m left wondering if I got in a time machine and am actually reliving 2015/16.
Two Buttons Deep is a news & entertainment website based in upstate New York.
We don’t just post the news, we post stuff worth talking about…
Visit our newsfeed, and stay up to date on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.