Everton replace Liverpool in top-10 team form rankings in Europe
Bayern Munich may have lost ground in the Bundesliga title race at the weekend but the German giants are still the most in-form side in Europe’s top five leagues according to our weighted rating system over their past six league matches. Niko Kovac’s side were left to rue wasteful finishing away to Freiburg at the weekend, as they could only manage a 1-1 draw. They are, nevertheless, unbeaten in their last six league matches (W5, D1) and have scored 22 goals in that time.
Bayern’s lead at the top of the form rankings has been cut into significantly, however. Bundesliga rivals Frankfurt have an identical record to Bayern over their last six league matches (W5, D1) after beating Stuttgart 3-0 on Sunday. Frankfurt have won their last five on the spin in the league and have kept three clean sheets in a row.
Not only have Frankfurt pulled closer to Bayern, they have also extended their lead over Paris Saint-Germain. A much-changed PSG outfit could only manage a 1-0 win away to Toulouse at the weekend and now they have to look over their shoulder at RB Leipzig in fourth.
The German outfit move up four places in our team form rankings after recording a 5-0 win over Hertha Berlin on Saturday. Leipzig are also unbeaten in their last six league outings and have kept four clean sheets in a row.
Manchester City have won each of their last six league matches after beating Fulham 2-0 on Saturday but it wasn’t an overly convincing victory from Pep Guardiola’s side, who profited from two errors leading to goal by Fulham players. The Premier League side have dropped one place in our rankings as a result.
Barcelona and Lazio are unmoved in our team form rankings after victories over Espanyol and Inter, respectively, while Everton, Atletico Madrid and Arsenal complete the top-10 as new entries.
Everton have quietly started to turn their season around in the last month. Marco Silva’s side have won three of their last six league matches and have moved up 14 places in our team form rankings. The Toffees went unbeaten against Chelsea and Liverpool in that time and impressively kept clean sheets against both top-six sides.
Atletico are the biggest movers in the top-10, jumping 23 places after an emphatic 4-0 win away to Alaves last time out. Alaves had only conceded eight goals in home league matches this season prior to welcoming Atletico, which makes it all the more impressive from Diego Simeone’s side. Atletico have won five of their last six in the league with just a solitary defeat to Athletic Club.
Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan were not as fortunate as the aforementioned teams, all dropping out of the top-10. Despite beating Tottenham 2-1, Liverpool are still no where near their best and fall seven places to 12th. Leverkusen have now lost successive league games by a combined scoreline of 7-2 and have plummeted 30 places, while Milan drop 26 spots after following up a 3-2 defeat to Inter with a 1-0 loss away to Sampdoria.
QUALIFYING RULES
Team form ratings are weighted chronologically, with the most recent match carrying greater importance and so on.
