Man United are snubbed in ‘Global Club Rankings’ with five Premier League sides inside top ten

Brighton and Aston Villa have been named ahead of Manchester United in FiveThirtyEight’s global power rankings – with the Seagulls among five Premier League teams to make the top ten.

There is no surprise to see Man City top the 641-team list with Pep Guardiola’s side on the verge of a famous treble after winning the Premier League, and due to play in the finals of the FA Cup and Champions League.

They are followed by Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich and LaLiga winners Barcelona, with Real Madrid and perhaps surprisingly, Liverpool, who have displaced Newcastle inside the top five. 

It means Jurgen Klopp’s side are ahead of Arsenal, Newcastle and Manchester United – despite the other three sides qualifying for next season’s Champions League. 

Chelsea and Tottenham though couldn’t avoid dropping down the pecking order after their miserable campaigns, with the Blues plummeting four places down to 24th, and Spurs dropping two to 43rd – not even inside the top half of all Premier League clubs ranked. 

Man City have been crowned as the best team in the world in FiveThirtyEight’s latest Global Club Rankings

Their FA Cup final opponents Manchester United though have been snubbed in 16th, behind the likes of Newcastle, Liverpool, Brighton and Aston Villa

Liverpool have jumped one place into the top-five despite failing to qualify for the Champions League

Arsenal and Newcastle occupy 6th and 7th in the rankings, with Borussia Dortmund, Serie A winners Napoli and Brighton making up the top ten.

Manchester United though have been snubbed down in 16th position, one place behind Aston Villa who clinched a Europa Conference League position on the final day of the season.

The list demonstrates how far the Red Devils have fallen since their fruitful years under Sir Alex Ferguson.

However, they have improved since the early stages of the season, as they were down in 22nd when the rankings were conducted in October. 

The Red Devils have shown great improvements under Erik ten Hag this season to finish third in the Premier League standings, following a disappointing campaign prior with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick in charge.

United also won the Carabao Cup back in February and could win the FA Cup on Saturday when they play local rivals Man City.  

Despite their improvements, the Global Club Rankings have them sitting behind four teams that they finished ahead of during the Premier League season.

United were also placed behind RB Leipzig, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica and Atletico Madrid. 

United’s improvement under Erik ten Hag has not been reflected in the rankings

Chelsea dropped four places after finishing 12th in the Premier League standings

Arsenal (left) and Newcastle (right) both made the top ten after impressive seasons

Brentford meanwhile made the top 20 in 19th, behind Champions League finalists Inter Milan and Ajax and just ahead of Sporting Lisbon.

Crystal Palace sit inside the top half of all Premier League clubs from the 2022-23 season in the Global Power Rankings in 36th – seven ahead of Spurs.

Chelsea and Tottenham’s decline is understandable with both sides enduring miserable seasons in which they failed to qualify for Europe.  

Bournemouth (102nd), Wolves (108th), Leeds (109th), Southampton (126th) and Nottingham Forest (132nd), failed to make the top 100.   

The Cherries were the biggest risers out of any team in the Premier League moving up eight spots, while Wolves dropped a massive 16. 

Aston Villa and Brighton both qualified for Europe and are both ahead of Manchester United in the rankings

Wolves were perhaps the biggest losers in the top-flight after dropping 16 places to 108th

Wolves’ decline comes as a surprise after doing enough in the final months of the season to avoid relegation and have been ranked below West Ham (47th), Bournemouth, Everton (83rd) and relegated Leicester (77th)  – despite finishing ahead of them in the Premier League. 

The list also includes Championship, League One and Two sides, with Burnley finishing ahead of five Premier League sides in 88th after their promotion to the top-flight with a dominant league triumph. 

Sheffield United are placed just behind Southampton in 127th, while play-off winners Luton are in 132nd. 

FiveThirtyEight, update their global rankings every week based on data provided by ESPN and OPTA.

Their system sees every team given an offensive rating that represents the number of goals they would be expected to score against an average team on a neutral field, and a defensive rating for the number of goals they would be expected to concede.

These ratings produce an SPI rating which gives a percentage of available points – a win is worth three, a draw worth one, and a loss worth none. 

League Two side Crawley Town right at the bottom of the list in 640th – only ahead of China’s Beijing Renhe.