Name: Antonio Valencia
Club: Manchester United
Game: 9/23 @ Liverpool
Offense: Diving in the box and winning a penalty in the 80th minute that resulted in the game-winning goal.
Sergio Busquets Scale: ★★★
Okay back to the business at hand. We're five weeks into the Premier League campaign and there are some familiar and not-so-familiar clubs at the top of the table. It's too early for some teams to panic, but that won't stop some fanbases from doing so. It's time to rank the team's from top to bottom. So here we go. The teams' place in the table will be in parentheses.
1. Chelsea (1): They haven't played the toughest schedule so far, but Chelsea has only dropped two points on the season. Eden Hazard looks sublime on the right wing and Fernando Torres has shown glimpses of coming back to his old form. The Blues face their toughest test of the season Saturday when they head to the Emirates for a Saturday Lunch Time bout with the Gunners.
2. Everton (3): The Toffees get the nod above Manchester United due to their head-to-head victory. David Moyes' club had a hiccup midweek in the Capital One Cup but their play in the EPL has been very consistent. The attacking threat of Jelavic, Mirallas, and Fellaini could trigger a Champions League run.
3. Manchester United (2): United haven't played their best football by a longshot yet they still sit in second place. You take Robin van Persie off the club and they could be in the middle of the table. Rooney is back and SAF will have to decide what lineup works best up front.
4. Arsenal (5): Steve Bould has done wonders to turn the Gunners backline into the most formidable in the league this season. Arsene Wenger has a nice problem to deal with deciding what pairing to start in center defense. Offensively, Lukas Podolski is making Arsenal fans slowly forget RvP and Santi Cazorla has been the best player in the league so far.
5. Manchester City (7): Similar to United, the Sky Blues are surviving on sheer talent despite not playing excellent football. David Silva does not look like the player he was last year and the defense has been very shaky. Joe Hart doesn't have a cleansheet so far this season.
6. West Bromwich Albion (4): Romelu Lukaku may turn out to be one of the signings of the season. He already has netted two goals as West Brom has thrashed Liverpool and drew Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Their impressive start could continue with Aston Villa and QPR next on the schedule.
7. Newcastle (10): They haven't wowed anyone with their play but they haven't disappointed either. An opening day win over Tottenham was nice but a puzzling draw at home to Villa derailed them a bit. Demba Ba already has four goals in the campaign and Hatem Ben Arfa appears to be in good health. Two good things for Toon.
8. Tottenham (8): Has AVB finally figured it out? Spurs have won two straight matches and are on a high note heading into their showdown with Manchester United this weekend. Jermaine Defoe has been fantastic this season filling in for Emmanuel Adebayor and Clint Dempsey looks to be slowly settling in.
9. Fulham (6): Fulham have had a lot of ups and downs in just five matches. They blew out Norwich and West Brom but were hammered (no pun intended) by West Ham. Even after selling Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey, they've shown they can still be a team in the top half of the Premier League.
10. West Ham (9): Welcome back to the Premier League West Ham. The Hammers have played very well at Upton Park but have only taken one of a possible six points on the road. Sam Allardyce did well at the transfer window bringing in Matthew Jarvis along with Andy Carroll and Yossi Benayoun on loan.
11. Sunderland (12): Well you can't say Sunderland haven't been consistent. Four draws in four matches and two of them coming against Arsenal and Liverpool. Most people laughed at the Black Cats when they dished out 14 million pounds to sign Steven Fletcher from Wolves. He's the one laughing so far with four goals.
12. Southampton (16): Yes, yes I know they only have three points. But Southampton has faced a daunting early schedule and came close to beating both Manchester City and Manchester United. Nigel Adkins' bunch play an attractive style of football and should be able to take some points from their upcoming matches. At the end of the day, Southampton will be the promoted side with the most points this season.
13. Stoke (13): Stoke has actually played a bit of football this season. Not much, but some. Chelsea broke their streak of four straight draws this past weekend. Now Stoke needs to figure out how to win a match. Not the easiest thing for them.
14. Swansea City (11): Michael Laudrup's club has hit their first speed bump. The loss of right back Neil Taylor to a broken ankle has been catastrophic so far for Swansea. The offense has weapons with Michu, Dyer, and Graham, but Michel Vorm is going to be hung out to dry if the defense doesn't improve.
15. Liverpool (18): I'm going to take a positive spin on "Lolverpool". To their defense, their schedule has been brutal to start the season losing to United, Arsenal, and drawing City. But the Reds simply must be better at home though going forward. Liverpool has as many wins at Anfield in 2012 as Arsenal (two).
16. Wigan (15): It's the start of the campaign. Everyone knows Wigan only starts playing well once the second half starts. Roberto Martinez would like to like to play better now though he doesn't need his club to go on a tear down the stretch to avoid relegation.
17. Reading (20): Last place doesn't tell the whole story. Reading were cheated from points at Stamford Bridge and played well for 45 minutes against Tottenham. Pavel Progrebnyak is a player who can carry the line up top and keep Reading near the midtable.
18. Aston Villa (14): They take out Swansea at home only to get thrashed at Southampton the following week. Villa picked up a big win in the Capital One Cup this week over City and for their sake, hopefully that play carries over into the EPL. A player of Gabby Agbonlahor's quality doesn't deserve to be relegated.
19. Queens Park Rangers (19): More new signings, same old QPR. With the talent on this roster, there is no way that QPR should be this low in the standings. The excuse that they need time to gel will run out soon and results will be needed in a hurry.
20. Norwich City (17): Based on what they've shown this season, it could be one-and-done for Norwich in the top flight. Most of the defensive quality they had last season was there on loan and has since left Carrow Road. Last year's talisman Grant Holt has been poor so far in the campaign and needs to regain last year's form for Norwich to avoid the bottom three.
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