The 1 2 3 in the league come 3^rd 2^nd and 1^st in the stats.

West Ham with best VA of +11 in the league come top of the stats with the most over performing team in D4.  Fenerbache in 2^nd had a a great +7 VA and Twente +3 VA. All 4 were tied with 4.00 PVA so the VA was the tie breaker.

Playoff Dynamo Kiev had a great +8 VA as did CSKA, Cologne top that with +10 VA and a notable +6 for Napoli.

AZ on -11 VA come lowest placed in the stats, though Chievo on -15 VA could really claim that prize after the predicted 2^nd place team got relegated.  Santos also struggled and paid the price on -8 VA.

Have Zenit done the performance of the year?

2^nd spot in the league and VA of + 16 and a PVA of 8.50 puts them miles ahead of leaders Sporting who are in 2^nd.  Galatasaray in 3^rd had a great season with +6 VA, with Roma the only other big over achievers.

Augsburg were the most disappointing team this year. -7 VA and the lowest PVA. Swansea their playoff rivals faired little better with -4 VA. Relegated Lille also had -4 VA

2^nd Place Villa just beat champs Leicester to the stats crown.

Dominant they were but Leicester were beaten stats wise by Villa who had a great VA of 7 , though the top VA was Udinese who just missed out on the playoffs after being relegation candidates. Espanyol, Werder and AC Milan had a good VA this season.

Most underperforming teams were Hamburg and Liverpool. Promoted Genoa and maybe Everton won’t be bothered if they go up.

Benfica with a PVA of 2.67 with a great 3^rd place overall and VA of 7 lead the stats.

For those who don’t know the end of season rating is calculated from the Value Added i.e. how high above your predicted position you finish and the position you finish in, this gives  you the positional value added. ( For example finishing 4 th when you should have been 8^th is far better than coming 12^th when you should  have been 16^th.

Internacional sit second with the highest VA of +9 ,just above Barcelona in 3^rd.  The champs come 4^th and could do no more, with WBA in 5^th spot. Notable high VA from Spurs.

Real Madrid were the biggest disappointment, relegated and out of sorts, -13VA. Arsenal slumped to 2^nd lowest PVA and Juve 3^rd.  Anderlecht have the lowest VA of -6 and they were relegated.

Sao Paulo predicted to double bounce with relegated Sporting and Augsburg predicted to return to D2.

The top 3 all offer something a bit different , Sao Paulo the best keeper and Midfield. Sporting lack depth but are potent in attack.  Augsburg weaker at the back but can match anyone up top.

Swansea can threaten any team in the league with their attack and should fancy the playoffs, with Schalke’s mean defence also able to withstand those 90/91 attackers.

Borussia surely a wild card team. Poor keeper , lack depth but otherwise strong , how will the fair?

Partizan , Zenit , Roma and sadly the fair tail of Dnipro who may well be returning to D4 or beyond.  Zenit perhaps with a good keeper may be able to turn a few loses into draws but can they covert draws to wins?

Genoa top of the stats, will they be top of the table.

With only 1 player beneath 90 in their starting XI Genoa should romp to the title.  Relegated Everton and promoted Leicester should be a strong challenge sitting in the 224 range, which is worth noting is the minimum to survive in the higher division.

Having said that Hamburg , and Leverkeusen have potent attack/ midfield combos that could prove a threat to the top 3 teams with Liverpool and Ajax being solid at the back.

Hard to see how Levante will not suffer another drop with the worse defence and attack in the league. River Plate will leaked too many goals, with Udinese, Milan , Wolfsburg all hoping they don’t fall into the lower reaches.

AZ Predicted to double bounce with a rapid rise to D3.

AZ perhaps have a weakness in their keeper but otherwise are a strong side.  Chievo will challenge them in second. Sunderland have a great balance about their side and they should make up  the top 3.

Sassuolo will hope to at least make the playoffs and should be  tight at the back

Sevilla and Besitkas will have to work hard to get relegated for a second time but there are a bunch of teams within a whisker of the 218 cut off for relegation to the lower league.  Lokomtive and Napoli realy need to shore up their back lines to stand a chance of survival.

Rubin , Lazio and Spartak should be the promoted teams next season. Lazio should be able to overwhelm most teams defences easily enough but lack depth. Rubin look a more balanced team and like Spartak have enough depth to cope.

Lyon have a good defence/ offence combo. Relegated Brugge and Villareal should make the playoffs. This should be incentive enough for Boca and Atalanta to try and get to D4 this season as next it may be tougher.

Shaktar sit at the foot of the table again but will have close companions with Newcastle looking little better at the moment.  Fiorentina and over performing Athletic club look like they could struggle next season

Chelsea to claim back title? Champs to finish 2^nd, how will promoted teams do?

For the uninitiated. I work out the average rating for GK,Def,Mid,Att , the lowest rated top 18 player ( excluding 2^nd/3^rd keeper ) and apply a magic formula.

I use some “ common “ sense in making logical changes if players are unlikely to feature or the lowest 18^th player is far lower than anything.

Chelsea should win  the league , with relative ease, but Arsenal now only need to catch up 1 place , far less than this year. Barca , Porto and Real Madrid should be a threat and especially so with those potent attacking line ups.

Juve are always solid at the back, as are Benfica and Man City.  Hellas lack a little depth but have a strong attack.

Anderlecht should get a mid table finish , higher if they uprate the keeper some how. WBA are just off the relegation zone, unlike Hertha and playoff team Hoffenheim who sit right in it. 223 or less meant probable relegation last season. So Internacional and Tottenham will need to up their game to survive next season.

AZ lead the stats and win the league +10VA and +11PVA.

Playoff bound PSV have the highest VA on +14 and are 2^nd in the stats. Big shout outs for Lokomotive on +7 VA, Boca +5 and Athletic club +7  and Fiorentina on +8 VA all great performances.

All those good scores must mean an equal number of bad ones, Division 5 is for rebuild but -16VA for promotion favourites Rubin Kazan and -10 for possible promotes Lyon are still a shock.  Montpellier fair little better and Stuttgart failed to live up to the hype.