West Ham’s tough start; and Liverpool doing even better than City?

Here it is: the first public appearance this season of the alt-3 table.

The main stories so far to come from the alt-3 calculation are:

  • West Ham have played only higher-placed opponents in their first 8 matches. The Hammers’ 7 accumulated league points understates by quite a margin (nearly 5 points, in effect) how well they have done so far. In the alt-3 table (which — in a mathematically coherent way — takes proper account of schedule strength to date) they are currently placed 12th, compared with 15th in the official Premier League table.
  • Liverpool top the current alt-3 table, just ahead of Manchester City. The two clubs are level on league points (19 each at present); and City’s better goal difference puts them just ahead in the official Premier League table. But Liverpool have had an appreciably harder start to the season, including away matches at Spurs and Chelsea; and that is enough to put Liverpool ahead of City at the top of the alt-3 table. Adding a bit of extra context to tomorrow’s head-to-head match Liverpool v Man City at Anfield…

Current schedule-strength charts:


To see any other club’s schedule-strength chart, just click on the club name in the alt-3 league table.