A return to the top table?

That’s the opinion of bookmakers.tv, who have crunched the numbers to compare each Premier League team’s actual performance with how betting sites expected them to perform at the start of the season. All 20 sides were given a points handicap, with Manchester City and Liverpool predictably starting on just zero and four points respectively, while Bournemouth and Fulham were both handed a head start in excess of 50 points.

Newcastle began on +31, with an expectation to finish the season in seventh place, just ahead of West Ham and Leicester. And with only two games left to go for the Magpies, there are five teams, and indeed managers, still in contention at the top of this alternative league table.

Arsenal and Fulham head the list, with 101 points apiece, but they can still be caught by Newcastle after a 4-1 vicory at home to Brighton with only relegation battling Leicester to face before signing...