Given the talk re Villa and Man Utd, I talk it might be interesting to look at the points accrued taking account of the relative difficulty of fixtures to date.
We are sitting in 7th, but taking this fixture difficulty into account (assumptions are in my NUFC tracking monthly updates) the points we’ve accumulated are in line in a fourth place finish (Ave PL season).
I haven’t taken the relative difficulty of their fixtures into account, but Villa, in 4th have accrued a points total (28) which would normally be what you’d expect of a second placed team. Man Utd, in 6th, have a points total (24) between 3rd and fourth place finish.
However, using the four tiers (from NUFC prediction) to reflect the quality of opposite, shows that they have both had easier starts than us. We’ve played more Tier 1 teams and fewer Tier 4 teams than either.