The Premier League table of 2023: Aston Villa & Arsenal neck and neck…

Unai Emery’s Aston Villa have been one of the best sides in the Premier League over the course of the full calendar year.

Elsewhere, it’s eye-catching that Liverpool have a better record than Manchester United in 2023, Brighton have picked up as many points as Newcastle and Nottingham Forest have fared better than Chelsea.

Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils beat Liverpool to a place in the top four last season, but Jurgen Klopp’s side have shown steady improvement since their sorry start to last season and actually have a better record in 2023 than their historic rivals – just.

It ought to be no surprise to see Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Manchester City side way out in front of any other side in the English top flight since the turn of the year.

The treble-winners showed relentless form in the latter half of 2022-23 to catch Arsenal in the title race and they’ve picked up where they left off by winning their first six matches of the current campaign. They suffered an unexpected setback of back-to-back defeats but have responded well and currently sit top once again.

Perhaps most shocking of all is Chelsea’s position. Of the 17 ever-presents in the Premier League in 2023, only relegation-scrappers Everton and Bournemouth have worse records.

The Blues have averaged just over a point per game over their last 35 matches – that’s near enough relegation form for almost an entire season’s worth of games.

We’ve only included the teams that have been in the Premier League throughout the calendar year, so we’ve missed out on newly-promoted trio Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton Town – who have only played a handful of games – and last term’s relegated sides Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton.

Those six sides do have the worst record in 2023 on a points-per-game basis, though, underlining the difference between the Premier League and the Championship.

The newly promoted sides would all be in the bottom three were it not for Everton’s 10-point penalty, while Leicester, Leeds and Southampton all registered the worst record in the latter half of the 2023-24 campaign.

Here’s the full Premier League table from 2023 so far:

1. Manchester City – 81 pts, GD +53 (played 34)
2. Arsenal – 68 pts, GD +35 (played 34)
3. Aston Villa – 68 pts, GD +25 (played 34)
4. Liverpool – 66 pts, GD +31 (played 34)
5. Manchester United – 64 pts, GD +8 (played 34)
6. Newcastle – 57 pts, GD +28 (played 33)
7. Brighton – 57 pts, GD +19 (played 34)
8. Tottenham – 56 pts, GD +6 (played 34)
9. Brentford – 52 pts, GD +14 (played 33)
10. West Ham – 43 pts, GD -5 (played 33)
11. Wolves – 43 pts, GD -15 (played 33)
12. Fulham – 39 pts, GD -10 (played 33)
13. Crystal Palace – 38 pts, GD -9 (played 34)
14. Nottingham Forest – 38 pts, GD -12 (played 34)
15. Chelsea – 36 pts, GD -6 (played 35)
16. Everton – 35 pts, GD -19 (played 33) [No points deduction applied]
17. Bournemouth – 32 pts, GD -32 (played 33)

READ NEXT: Ranking every Premier League club by their wage bill in 2023-24: Man Utd still top…

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every club to ever appear in the Premier League?