No transfers completed after Monday 3 April are included.

Close race at the top with 4 teams in with a chance.

Boca go front and back , the strongest keeper and the strongest attack in the league. Should be set for top 3 with that combo.  Stuttgart much more balanced and much more depth , they can challenge almost any team.  Kazan are a similar prospect if a little weaker in defence and midfield. Atalanta the first 87 rated keeper but a potent attacker could allow them to sneak in to auto promotion.

You need 217 to survive D4, so down to Brugge are realistic prospects for promotion.  Villareal will find it hard with an 86 rated keeper. Santos look more balanced, while Brugge are weaker in defence. 

Who could be cup-tastic super fantastic, well  Independiente with that 89 keeper and good depth would be my pick.

Avoid the pit and the pendulum and you will be safe from the sack in the new  / old era of no contractual obligations.

Lazio currently look top prospects for last place , unless they rapidly trade up their youngsters.  Too many goals will be shipped past Newcastle. PSV lack depth but maybe that attack could do it. Chievo , a decent keeper but that is a weak midfield/ defence combo.

As for Sevilla , that will be another post altogether.

Average 216.84 down 0.02 from last season

Can AZ shield their keeper to take the title?

Division 4 is normal full of compromises. A weak keeper, lack of depth a dodgy midfield.

Note any transfers after Monday 3^rd are not included.

AZ are 2 clear points above the rest of the pack. They have a 90 rated striker, just below 90 midfield and a strong defence. So long as the keeper isn’t breached they should do well.  Feyenoord in 2^nd a similar team but with more depth overall who should come good in the 2^nd half of the season.  Sassuolo less potent up top than their rivals but they have a far better keeper and if they can withstand some possession football could be the 3^rd choice for auto promotion.

You have to be above 219 to survive D3,  therefore any team lower than Bordeaux has a lot of improving to do. Lille weak in defence but strong elsewhere, Malaga with a dodgy keeper but strong in the remainder of the team. Bordeaux maybe more balanced but have the weakest midfield of the top 7 teams.

Up for the cup?  Feyenoord look the best prospects.

Anything less than 217.5 leaves you in serious relegation risk.  This means 7 teams have to improve their stats to survive.  Shaktar and Fiorentina look prime suspects to drop back down. Maybe Fiorentina can hide behind or in front of their keeper.  Napoli will be ok unless they get a couple of injuries, if so they will suffer.  Dnipro still a weak defence leaves them vunerable.  St Etienne go for the strong striker , weak defence combo that often is enough for  the weaker teams.

Average = 218.09 , 0.55 lower than last season

Levante the team to beat, who else could challenge?

This must be the season for Levante to push back into the big time. 90+ in all departments and they would probably get automatic promotion from D2.

Schalke and Inter are their nearest opponents. Schalke would seem to be odds on for automatic promotion with only the defence below 90.  Sunderland and Inter maybe a keeper away from the title either will that be enough to get a 2nd or 3^rd place as the stats suggest, they have good depth and the 2^nd half of  the season should be a strong one.  Inter though have a far stronger strike force than Sunderland or Schalke so the battle for 2 - 4 should be tight. Zagreb are more balanced and could initially be a stronger prospect.

Swansea and Augsburg just missed out on the playoffs last season and this year they will be fighting it out with Inter.

218 or less was the problem zone last season.  Roma look most vulnerable lack of depth and weak defence. Sampdoria have a weak keeper but good defence and o,k up front. Twente a little weaker in defence but a better midfield should shield that.

Up for the cup? Twente if they can avoid relegation could throw a few coals on the fire.

The average score is 220.67 which is 0.79 up from last season.

Real Madrid odds on favourites, who will come second?

Perhaps and over simplistic view but as Madrid would be solid mid table in D1 and Leverkesuen 2 whole points away you can’t see around Real Madrid romping back to D1 and even having time to spare to build a stronger team while they do it.

Leverkeusen also though have a strong side . Second place should be relatively easy and they too have a side built for a higher league with no real vulnerabilities.  Everton and Ajax are harder to judge. Everton have a weaker keeper but more depth than Ajax who risking everything if they get injuries.  Liverpool Stoke and Anderlecht strong in midfield but weaker at the back.  To survive D1 you will need 224 so this is kind of the cut off , unless you can improve your team while gaining promotion.

Last season anything less than 221 suggested a struggle.  This puts 5 teams already fighting before the season has begun. Zenit look least well equipped to survive with a week attack and defence combo that will suffer against 90 + rated attacks. Hoffenheim will be good up front but can they out score their opponents.  Same could be said for River Plate but they should get more possession than some . Udinese are more balanced and have good depth , which should do them fine. AC Milan trade depth for a stronger midfield which should be good for at least the first few games.

Cup run teams ? Anderlecht & Udinese

Average for Division 222.65 up 0.4 from last season.

A few notes for the uninitiated.

The ratings for GK,DEF,MID,ATT are the average rating of the likely players in those positions. Top 18 is  the lowest player likely to be in the starting squad.  Average is the average of those. ETOT is based on a secret formula using the relative importance of each position. That created the Pre (predicted ) finishing position.

Perhaps it is no shock to see Chelsea still way ahead of everyone else. They lead in most categories except perhaps defence where they are a little weaker and could be vunerable to any team sporting 92 attack or above if you pick the right formation. Benfica are the nearest challengers, almost a Chelsea clone just a point or so down across the board. Juventus under their new boss sit 3^rd , defensively the most solid team in the league.  Porto have a really strong attack and could beat any team. Dortmund and Bayern are strong in the middle and could challenge any team.

With the lowest 4 at risk of the sack any team less than 223 is likely to be in trouble but such is the strength of D1 this season that even teams on 224 or less will be pulled down if they are not careful. As they stand Espanyol look relegation certainties, Spurs will also struggle.  Valencia may have a good enough attack to survive. Villa will look to shield their keeper usings the defenders and midfield as a screen. Cup run team, surely Bayern Munich who can put out an 89 as their 18^th ranked player or maybe Dortmund who can do the same.

Average ETOT 226.93 down 0.4 from last year.

Two great examples of how to play the game right. Fiorentina should have been 18^th but came 1^st +17 VA and +18 PVA.

Shaktar should have been last +17 VA and +6 PVA.

2^nd spot Olympiacos have +10 VA with Athletic club on +8 VA. Other notable over achievers were Montpellier and Newcastle.

Most abjectly poor performance as -18 VA Lazio, Spartak Moscow were not far behind on -14 VA , along with Lyon.  Villareal and Stuttgart on -10 VA were also behind the curve.

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.