Premier league after 5 matches: Everton not really showing relegation form (yet!)

The match schedules faced so far by Everton and West Ham this season are such that we should not rush to condemn their early form. Both clubs climb clear of the relegation zone in the alt-3 league table, which is based on a coherent mathematical model rather than just on ‘points in the bag’.

In their first five games, Everton have already faced Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea and Spurs; and three of their five matches have been away from home.

In West Ham’s case, the opposition has not been quite so strong but four of their five matches to date have been played away from home.

Our alternative table is designed to show how well teams are really doing, taking full account of who has been played already (and where). For more detail on how and why this all works, see the About alt-3.uk section.

Other movers in this week’s alt-3 table include Arsenal. Although Arsenal have not suffered an especially hard match-schedule to date, life has been even easier for some of their near neighbours in the table. Arsenal move up from 12th on ‘points in the bag’, to 9th in the alt-3 table. The three teams leapfrogged by Arsenal — that’s Huddersfield, Southampton and West Brom — have all had a relatively soft start to the season.

The next update to the alt-3 table will be on Tuesday, when all clubs will have played six matches.