Here's a post I'm currently maintaining on another forum, thought It might be helpful here (click the photos for a better resolution):
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Here's a table of the amount of points needed to finish in a particular position in the EPL during the last five seasons.
Since our aim for this season is to get into the CL, that means we need to get around 68-73 points, if we judge it by the last five seasons. Let's just say that we need 75 points. That equals to 14 more points compared to last season.
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Comparing this season's results with last season's, so far:
*Wigan = Cardiff City
*Reading = Hull City
*QPR = Crystal Palace
Also, Goal differences are compared to how much we scored/conceded vs that team. A positive value means we scored more or conceded less, negative for the other way around. For example we scored one goal less against Villa but we also conceded one less.
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Premier League mini Table. Arguably, The top teams in the EPL this season will be United, Chelsea, City, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Everton.
Last season one of our major weak points was that from the teams that finished above us, we've managed to gather only 10 points out of 36, and only one win. It's imperative that we do as well as possible against those teams because one win or loss in those games offsets us by 6 points vs that team.
For example, Manchester United finished 28 points above Liverpool last year. Because of our win vs United at Anfield this season compared to our loss on the previous one, we've already offset that difference by 6 points to 22.
This a comparison of last season's Mini Table with this ones: