So this might not make any sense, but on my long car journey back from work yesterday I began thinking about how our results compare to our rivals when only considering games that both ourselves and them have played. I thought by doing this it would give a decent picture in my head as to how our season has gone in direct comparison to theirs and is similar approach to studying horse racing i.e. "franking the form".
So here are my findings:
Man City
Man City have dropped points in two matches, once against ourselves and once against Wolves but as we have not played Wolves this has no impact on us. Out of the three matches we have dropped points in, Man City have bettered our result once (Arsenal away) but have not played either of the other two fixtures.
Chelsea
Chelsea have dropped points in five matches, of which we have bettered their result twice (Tottenham away and Everton home). One of the others was against us, whilst we have not played West Ham away or Man United at home. Chelsea have not played Arsenal away or Man City at home so there is no comparison to the games we have dropped points in.
Arsenal
Arsenal have also dropped points in five matches. Of these five, we have bettered their result three times (Man City home, Chelsea away, Palace away), with one of the others coming against us and the other one being Wolves at home, which is a fixture we haven't played. Out of the three matches we have dropped points in, they have done worse on two occasions and the third was against them.
Tottenham
Tottenham have dropped points in four matches, with one of those being against us. Of the other three, we have bettered their result on each occasion (Arsenal away, Man City home, Watford away). They have therefore done worse than us in two of the games we have dropped points in and they haven't played Chelsea away.
Man United
Not that it matters, but our fixtures compared to Man United's have been very different. They have dropped points in eight matches, but we have only played one of those fixtures and dropped the same number of points in it (Chelsea away). They haven't played Arsenal away or Man City at home.
Everton
Just for laughs - they have dropped points in seven matches plus the defeat to ourselves. Of these seven, we have bettered there result twice (West Ham home, Arsenal away), equalled it once (Chelsea away) and have not played the remaining four. Of the games we have dropped points in, they did worse against Arsenal but are yet to play Tottenham or Man City.
The findings
Taking into account only the fixtures that have also been played by the other clubs, the standings are:
Man City +2
Liverpool
Man United 0
Everton -4
Chelsea -5
Tottenham -5
Arsenal -5
