Team of the season so far

All these people picking Petrov clearly don't watch City often enough. Yes he is a smashing player and has so much ability but he is not consistent enough. Hasn't been all year. He drifts in and out of games and sometimes goes missing completely. To have him in the team of the season is a bit OTT. Same for Elano. He hasn't done anything in the last few months, mainly down to injury.

For me Dunne and Hamann should make the XI from City. I've seen pretty much every City game and no one plays consistently better. The other shout would be Corluka for right back. He's a class act.

james

sagna
rio
gallas
evra

ronaldo
fabregas
flamini
hleb

tevez
adebayor

I dont know about the best-11 players, but the club situation is as follows:

Now that we have reached the 20-game stage for all clubs, it is possible to compare performances. The ladder table after the first 10 games played this season was as follows:

26 Arsenal
25
24
23 Man U
22 Man C
21 Blackburn
20 Liverpool
19
18 Chelsea Portsmouth
17 Newcastle
16
15 Aston Villa
14 West Ham
13 Everton
12
11
10 Reading
9
8 Birm Fulh Sund Wigan M'Boro
7 Tottenham
6 Derby
5 Bolton

The points tally for the clubs in the games 11-20 are as follows:

Chelsea 23
Man Utd 22
Arsenal 21
Everton 20
Liverpool 18
Aston Villa 18
Tottenham 17
West Ham 15
Man City 14
Portsmouth 13
Reading 12
Middlesbrough 12
Bolton 12
Birmingham 11
Blackburn 9
Newcastle 9
Sunderland 9
Wigan 8
Fulham 7
Derby 1

Notable improvements from Spurs, Chelsea and Everton but also Bolton. Clubs showing a notable disimprovement include Portsmouth and Derby, Newcastle and Blackburn, but also Arsenal and Man City.

Differences in points tally between Games 11-20 and Games 1-10.

Tottenham 10
Bolton 7
Everton 7
Chelsea 5
Middlesbrough 4
Aston Villa 3
Birmingham 3
Reading 2
Sunderland 1
West Ham 1
Wigan 0
Fulham -1
Man U -1
Liverpool -2
Arsenal -5
Derby -5
Portsmouth -5
Man C -8
Newcastle -8
Blackburn -12

The Played-20 Ladder Table view is as follows:

47 Arsenal
46
45 Man U
44
43
42
41 Chelsea
40
39
38 Liverpool
37
36 Man C
35
34
33 Everton Aston Villa
32
31 Portsmouth
30 Blackburn
29 West Ham
28
27
26 Newcastle
25
24 Tottenham
23
22 Reading
21
20 Middlesboro
19 Birmingham
18
17 Bolton Sunderland
16 Wigan
15 Fulham
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7 Derby

No prizes for seeing who are the likely candidates to win the league and get the CL places. Note that Sheffield Wednesday had 20 pts at the same stage last season and were relegated so Boro, Brum, Bolton and Sunderland fans be warned. Paul Jewell is already preparing for next season in the 2nd flight.

The change in points between this season and last is as follows:

Man C 13
Arsenal 11
West Ham 11
Aston Villa 8
Blackburn 5
Everton 5
Liverpool 4
Newcastle 1
Middlesboro -1
Portsmouth -4
Chelsea -5
Man U -5
Reading -5
Wigan -6
Tottenham -7
Fulham -10
Bolton -19

Notable improvement from Man City and Arsenal and West Ham. Bolton are way out in terms of a negative change. Man Utd are negative by 5, so indicating a closer title race. Chelsea are also off by 5. Liverpool are up 4, but that's hardly stellar, and no need to re-iterate my position on Liverpool's title chances.

Redspider