What close look at Premier League table says about Chelsea, Liverpool and Leicester

Everyone is chasing Chelsea, but here is what a closer look at the standings reveals

Titles are decided by games between the top teams. It's an aphorism worth exploring in the Premier League. Do the games between Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United decide the league? The title-chase six pointers that are always the subject of hype that suggests an added significance?

A look at the results reveals otherwise.

Here are the 3 things we can learn by separating the Premier League into a "top 6" and a "bottom 14" table.

Chelsea have done much of their damage against the weaker teams in the league. Getty Images

1. Chelsea's dominance is against the rest of the league, not the top 6:

		GP	W	D	L	PTS	PTS/G	GF	GA	GD	DROPPED PTS.
1	Chelsea	17	15	2	0	47	2.76	38	7	31	4
2	Tottenham	17	12	5	0	41	2.41	37	9	28	10
3	Arsenal	19	14	3	2	45	2.37	44	17	27	12
4	Man. City	19	14	3	2	45	2.37	44	19	25	12
5	Man. Utd.	19	12	6	1	42	2.21	34	13	21	15
6	West Brom.	17	10	5	2	35	2.06	30	14	16	16
7	Liverpool	17	10	3	4	33	1.94	42	23	19	18
8	Everton	18	9	5	4	32	1.78	31	17	14	22
9	West Ham	17	9	3	5	29	1.71	26	21	5	22
10	Stoke City	18	8	6	4	30	1.67	23	15	8	24
11	Burnley	16	8	1	7	25	1.56	20	23	-3	23
12	Watford	19	8	4	7	28	1.47	25	20	5	29
13	Southampton	17	6	6	5	24	1.41	20	21	-1	27
14	Bournemouth	16	6	2	8	20	1.25	19	29	-10	28
15	Swansea City	17	6	3	8	21	1.24	26	28	-2	30
16	Middlesbrough	18	4	8	6	20	1.11	16	17	-1	34
17	Hull City	15	4	4	7	16	1.07	18	27	-9	29
18	Sunderland	17	5	2	10	17	1.00	19	31	-12	34
19	Crystal Palace	19	5	4	10	19	1.00	28	34	-6	38
20	Leicester City	17	4	4	9	16	0.94	23	23	-6	35

The Blues have been imperious against the rest of the league. 15 wins, 2 draws, no losses. The only other team to not lose against the bottom 14 is Tottenham. But they've dropped 6 more points by virtue of drawing 5 games.

Chelsea's 1-1 draw at Turf Mor on the weekend was an aberration. They're tearing apart their less economically advantaged brethren. They have a goal difference of +31 and have conceded just 7 goals against these teams. Chelsea takes leads and shuts teams down, dropping just 4 points against that group.

On the flip side, Antonio Conte's men have won 4 straight against teams in the top 6, but Chelsea lost their first 3 big clashes of the year. Dropping just 4 points against the bottom 14 compared to 10, 12, 12, 15, and 18 points of their competitors is why they sit top of the pile.

2. Liverpool sit in the Europa league places, but lead the top 6 table:

		GP	W	D	L	PTS	PTS/G	GF	GA	GD	DROPPED PTS.
1	Liverpool	8	4	4	0	16	2.00	12	7	5	8
2	Chelsea	8	4	1	3	13	1.63	14	11	3	11
3	Everton	7	2	3	2	9	1.29	9	10	-1	12
4	Man. City	6	2	1	3	7	1.17	7	10	-3	11
5	Tottenham	8	2	3	3	9	1.13	9	9	0	15
6	Man. Utd.	6	1	3	2	6	1.00	4	8	-4	12
7	Arsenal	6	1	2	3	5	0.83	10	11	-1	13
8	Watford	8	2	0	6	6	0.75	9	21	-12	18
9	Bournemouth	8	1	2	5	5	0.63	9	21	-12	19
10	Leicester City	8	1	2	5	5	0.63	7	20	-13	19
11	Burnley	9	1	2	6	5	0.56	7	13	-6	22
12	Swansea City	9	1	1	7	4	0.44	11	26	-15	23
13	Hull City	10	1	1	8	4	0.40	4	22	-18	26
14	Southampton	6	0	2	4	2	0.33	3	11	-8	16
15	Middlesbrough	7	0	2	5	2	0.29	3	10	-7	19
16	Stoke City	7	0	2	5	2	0.29	7	21	-14	19
17	Sunderland	8	0	2	6	2	0.25	5	15	-10	22
18	West Ham	8	0	2	6	2	0.25	8	22	-14	22
19	West Brom.	7	0	1	6	1	0.14	2	15	-13	20
20	Crystal Palace	6	0	0	6	0	0.00	4	12	-8	18

If the rule that games between the top 6 decides titles, then Liverpool should be top. They've yet to lose in 8 games, including a 2-0 win over Tottenham on the weekend. The Reds have taken 16 points from an available 24 against the big boys. 4 wins, 4 draws, and 0 losses is a remarkable record.

So why do they sit 5th in the actual league table? Losses to Burnley, Bournemouth, Swansea, and Hull for starters. Draws against Southampton, West Ham, and Sunderland don't help. Theoretically, Liverpool should be right there with Chelsea. It's why the revisionist history that they don't have good enough players, a narrative oft repeated during their January downturn, didn't make sense. They compete with the very best in the league better than anybody else.

Jurgen Klopp has to ask himself why his team plays down to their competition. This problem is almost entirely defensive. They've conceded 23 goals in 17 games against the bottom 14. The difference in defensive record between Chelsea and Liverpool in these games is why one team sits 8 points clear at the top and the other is 11 points off the pace.

3. Leicester are worst in the league against the "bottom 14":

Defending champion Leicester has struggled mightily against the best teams in the league. Getty Images

Why are the defending champions just one dangerous point off safety? You can start with being at the basement of the bottom 14 table. Just 16 points from 17 games is relegation form. Given the Foxes won the league last year and spent a ton of money in the summer to sustain it, this failure is confounding. Claudio Ranieri's team should be playing the role that West Brom is playing this season. Best of the rest. Few people tipped Leicester to win the league again or even stay in the Champions League, but 17th was unthinkable.

If you were to posit a football reason why, an obvious answer would be both Leicester and even Liverpool are at their best when they're counterattacking. Winning the ball with high press turns into quality chances. But eventually Premier League quality sides are going to figure out a gameplan for these styles. Liverpool's title chances and Leicester's fight with relegation will depend on finding a plan B.