Will West Brom’s strike force carry them to the title?
A huge reliance on a potent strike force has worked well in the past in D3 and West Brom have all the tools to pull off that trick. They sit well above Zagreb the next best attacking side and Sassulo who pack the back line better than most. They probably should be the top 3 . The play off teams should be Roma who lack depth so will need a good start and a similar issue could affect Wolfsburg while both teams are an attacking force. Udinese and Hoffenheim have more coverage and may have to wait a game or two to make an impact.
To survive in D2 you will need a rating of 221, so other than the top 3 , the rest will struggle if they go up. Feyenoord and Fenernahce are an interesting prospect ,strong keeper and attack but lacking elsewhere. Galatasaray could be consistent all season and should put in a good cup run.
Last season a rating of 218 or less got you relegated no questions asked. This leaves Newcastle ,Sevilla, Zenit and Napoli in serious trouble unless they can pull off a Dnipro. Zenit really just need a slightly better attacker, Napoli have much more work to do in midfield and defence. Sevilla an attacker could help and Newcastle maybe a better Keeper and defence.
Compared to last season division 3 is half a point weaker across the board. This could lead to a larger selection of playoff teams than usual but won’t really save the weaker teams as even 217.5 is the already the level of the lowest 4 teams with the next worst .7 above them.
| GK | DEF | MID | ATT | Top18 | Ave | ETOT | |
| West Bromwich Albion | 88.0 | 88.5 | 89.0 | 91.5 | 87.0 | 88.8 | 222.48 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 89.0 | 88.3 | 89.8 | 89.5 | 86.0 | 88.5 | 221.58 |
| Sassuolo | 91.0 | 89.3 | 89.5 | 88.0 | 86.0 | 88.8 | 221.44 |
| AS Roma | 88.0 | 89.0 | 88.5 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 87.9 | 220.61 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 89.0 | 88.3 | 88.5 | 89.5 | 85.0 | 88.1 | 220.46 |
| Udinese Calcio | 88.0 | 89.3 | 89.0 | 87.5 | 86.0 | 88.0 | 220.36 |
| TSG 1899 Hoffenheim | 88.0 | 88.0 | 89.0 | 88.5 | 86.0 | 87.9 | 220.01 |
| Galatasaray SK | 88.0 | 88.0 | 88.8 | 88.0 | 87.0 | 88.0 | 219.60 |
| Crystal Palace | 88.0 | 87.8 | 88.5 | 88.5 | 86.0 | 87.8 | 219.41 |
| Sampdoria | 88.0 | 88.5 | 87.8 | 88.0 | 86.0 | 87.7 | 219.08 |
| FK Partizan | 88.0 | 87.5 | 88.3 | 88.5 | 86.0 | 87.7 | 219.01 |
| Feyenoord | 90.0 | 87.0 | 88.0 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 88.0 | 218.97 |
| Celtic | 89.0 | 87.5 | 87.8 | 88.5 | 85.0 | 87.6 | 218.61 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 87.0 | 86.8 | 89.3 | 88.0 | 83.0 | 86.8 | 218.40 |
| Hamburger SV | 89.0 | 87.5 | 87.3 | 88.5 | 85.0 | 87.5 | 218.21 |
| Fenerbahçe SK | 90.0 | 86.8 | 87.0 | 89.5 | 85.0 | 87.7 | 218.18 |
| Newcastle United | 87.0 | 87.0 | 87.5 | 88.0 | 86.0 | 87.1 | 217.56 |
| Sevilla | 89.0 | 87.8 | 87.3 | 87.0 | 86.0 | 87.4 | 217.55 |
| Zenit Saint Petersburg | 89.0 | 87.3 | 87.8 | 86.5 | 86.0 | 87.3 | 217.23 |
| SSC Napoli | 88.0 | 86.5 | 86.8 | 87.5 | 85.0 | 86.8 | 216.24 |
Top 100 