Can top team Barcelona hold off rivals Chelsea and Porto.

Barcelona have the best attack ,defence and joint best keeper. If they have a weaker point it could be slightly less depth than some rivals and depending on formation a weaker midfield.     Chelsea can match them in goal and beat them in midfield.

These two are clear of the pack but Porto should push them close at can match or beat Barca in midfield and have a potent front line. Juve have a similar set up and must be pushing for a top 4 finish this year.

Bayern should also have an option as they will suffer less from injuries with Real in a similar position.

Difficult to mention everyone but Hertha look to be an interesting prospect upfront , weaker at the back , should be many high scoring games.

222.53 was relegation zone so only really Stoke are in serious problems. Man City , PSG lack depth,  Leverkeusen have problems in midfield and attack but could be solid in defence .

The winner takes it all with Bordeaux taking 1^st in the stats and the league.

+8 VA , +9 PVA,  the perfect combo to win the league, with West Ham in 2^nd on +14 VA and 3^rd place Leicester on +9 VA. In fact the top 5 side in the stats were the top 5 in the league.

Olympic Lyon and AZ also had +8 VA and a great performance.

Oddly the top 6 teams in the predictions came in the lowest 6 places. Olympiacos, Spartak and Athletic Club were notable by their underperformance.

Crystal Palace +5 PVA the stats leaders.

Zagreb may have won the league but not the battle of the stats as Palace who also had +9 VA pushed them close.  Celta and Lokomotiv Moscow had +11 and +12 VA making them 2^nd and 3^rd in the PVA charts, notable +8 VA for PSV and +9 for Atalanta.

At the wrong end -12 VA for 2^nd ranked Dynamo Moscow leaves them in last place for PVA with predicted 4^th spot Swansea on -16 VA just above them.

2 teams who should have finished in the top 10 were relegated.

Galatasaray top the stats in 2^nd spot.

Some great over performance in D3.

Galatasaray in 2^nd with a VA of +9 and a PVA of +5.00 are the well deserved stats leaders.  Relegation favoured Dnipro made the playoffs and 2^nd spot in the stats table and an incredible +16 VA.

River Plate 3^rd in real life and the stats sit just above league winners Aston Villa.

Notable +6 VA for Chievo and Zenit.

Flamengo and Dinamo Zagreb had poor seasons, Flamengo -12 VA,  Zagreb could yet saved their season in the playoffs.

CSKA on -7 VA and relegation are also worth a mention.

Stoke the top the stats chart but “only “ make the play-offs.

Hellas may feel that they did what they had to but Stoke finishing 4^th and 8 places above where they should have been is a greater achievement statistically. Levante also finishing top half when tipped for relegation with a +10 VA is another stunning achievement.

Notably Sevilla also avoided relegation from D2 7 places above where predicted.

Werder , Southampton and Everton all had poor seasons missing out on the play off spots they should have got with Sassuolo being relegated on the lowest VA.

Barcelona top the table

Porto ,Bayern and Juventus close behind.

Under new management Barcelona who were predicted 2^nd spot, won the league with points to spare. Porto had a great season also in 2^nd spot in PVA.

Man City had the highest VA and their 9^th place was 6 above where predicted.

The worse performing team this year were Genoa a VA of -9 and PVA -0.62, with Chelsea and Real not far behind.

Three of the lowest four ranked teams were relegated with only Leverkeusen escaping .

A compact division 5 with a few exceptions.

Spartak hold the narrowest of leads over Olympiacos, though long term their additional depth should see them through. Sao Paulo in a state of flux but with just the midfield to sort out to balance up the team.  Sunderland in a similar boat but with a defence to service.

Then there is a gap to Boca, Athletic club and Montpellier who are all closely matched, although Boca get the award for best attack in the league.  As the bar for entry to D4 is sat at around 217.5 this should mean half the league have a chance of promotion directly or via the play off spot.

With only the sack race to fear, which sits around 215.5 , Malaga, AZ and St Ettiene will fancy their chances to stay above the slowly improving Independiente. Overall a slightly stronger division than last season largely due to Independiente’s improvement.  Although if you ignore them the score is exactly the same.

Top 3 out of sight? Play-offs for the rest ?

There are 3 clear favourites for the top 3 spots. Partizan have a great midfield and attack and they have the lead in the stats, closely followed by Dynamo Moscow who are a more defensive set up.   FC Augsburg have an attack to fear but are more vunerable at the back than the other two.  As a whole the league is slightly weaker but the challenge at the top is much as last season.  Looks like around 218 is needed to survive D3 so a whole host of teams could get promoted and do well the following season.

Villareal look a strong prospect with plenty of depth, Feyenoord look like they could mount a strong challenge.  While last season was a little odd , around 217.5 would leave you in relegation risk. Lokomotiv have too weak a defence and little depth, they could struggle.  Celta need to sort themselves a keeper rapido. Atalanta and Cruziero have a decent enough attack but remain vunerable at the back.

Tight at the top is Division 3 the place to be?

No real out and out favourite in the cross road division of Top 100.  Zagreb lead the pack strong attack but a little weaker in defence than some. They are closely followed by Villa who have a better keeper and midfield.  Flamengo , WBA and Man Utd could be covered by a tea towel all are strong in midfield and attack an ongoing theme amongst D3 contenders.

The 90 + Attack runs out past 6^th spot. You would need 219.75 to survive in D2 so teams down to River Plate could push for promotion without compromising their current set up.

Looking at the lower end  last year less than 218.00 meant relegation this leaves Chievo. Basel , Celtic , Dnipro could be in danger. . Celtic and Dnipro in particular are in danger of shipping too many goals.  Basel may be o.k. but lack the strength in depth if they get in trouble.    In general terms.   The division is 0.3 per team higher than last season. The top end is a little weaker but there are more teams closer to those playoff spots.

Two teams are predicted a rapid return to D1

Benfica and Hellas are ranked as highly as PSG from last season and should dominate this season.

Benfica are a more solid outfit and have strength in depth beyond that of Hellas who are more attack minded.

Liege , Everton and Southampton fill the next 3 spots all with o.k. keepers and defence, they are going for possession football to shield the back line.  Spurs and Bremen may lack the firepower to go for promotion this year.

224.7 is the cut off to survive D1 so all but the top 2 have a lot of improving to do.

As for the cup Bremen have the capabilities to compete for league or cup.

At the wrong end last year 219.61 was relegation , 219.4 the previous year, so it is getting tougher to survive D2 as well.

Therfore Lazio, Kiev , Levante and Sevilla are all in trouble, all have decent keepers but a weak defence to exploit.  Kiev may have the fire power options to escape though which could leave Hamburg or Newcastle looking over their shoulders.