WCR Top 25 - October 3, 2023
The big situation of notice from the past week was how many of the top teams fell this week. All of our top four clubs from last week dropped points this week, with three of them losing and one of them, top-ranked Manchester City, losing TWICE! And it’s not like all of these losses were to top teams. City’s loss to Wolverhampton and Inter’s loss to Sassuolo (at the San Siro) were downright shocking.
All of these losses, however, resulted in very little movement in the rankings because you won’t fall if you lose when the clubs chasing you lose too. Inter Milan did drop a few notches, below Real Madrid and Arsenal, because those upwardly mobile clubs managed to win both of their matches. Porto and Manchester United also dropped a few spots after losses, but nobody dropped more than Brighton, who fell from 19th to 24th and continue to look troubled away from home.
Aston Villa, who performed the beatdown that caused Brighton to drop so much, was the only club to move up as many as two notches within the countdown. If you went down to 26th last week, though, Real Sociedad jumped from that position to re-enter the rankings at 22nd and a month-long absence from the chart. Departing in their place was Palmeiras, who exited the rankings after a draw with Boca Juniors in the Copa Libertadores and a loss to Red Bull Bragantino in the Brazilian Serie A.
We have a third straight week of heavy action leading into the next international break, with the second round of Champions League Group Stage matches leading the way. There will be lots of great action taking place both at midweek and over the weekend. I look forward to even more changes in the rankings coming up in next week’s edition.
All of the rankings are below. If you don’t like the list, please feel free to check out our methodology page, which includes links to all of the source data we are using.
1. Manchester City (Eng) (125 pts) (5 first place votes) (LW 1) - Well, here’s something I haven’t said in a long, long time. Manchester City played twice this week and they lost both times. First, they were eliminated from the EFL Cup in a 0-1 loss at St. James’ Park to Newcastle United. Even more surprising was their 1-2 defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton. I’m sure they’ll be extra glad to come home this week. What’s that? They have two more away matches this week? Let’s see how this goes. First up is a Wednesday night clash with RB Leipzig in Champions League competition followed by one of the most anticipated Premier League matches of the season at Emirates Stadium to take on Arsenal. Then they’ll go home, though, right? What? International break? Man, I hope they didn’t have to pay rent in Manchester for this month . . .
2. Bayern Munich (Ger) (117 pts) (LW 3) - Bayern’s goal-scoring frenzy continued this week, first in a 4-0 beating of Preussen Munster in their DFB Pokal debut for the season. On Saturday, they looked like they would be destroyed again by RB Leipzig, but they came back strong and had chances for a victory before settling for a 2-2 draw. Tuesday night, Bayern will be in Denmark for a Champions League match against FC Copenhagen and then SC Freiburg will visit Allianz Arena on Sunday for both clubs’ last match before the international break.
3. Liverpool (Eng) (114 pts) (LW 2) - Liverpool scored their fourth consecutive 3-1 victory on Thursday, this time at the hands of Leicester City in the League Cup. Then we learned that, even though you cannot beat Liverpool even when they’re down to ten men, you can beat them if they have only nine and the VAR referees like you because Spurs were able to pull off a 2-1 defeat of a club that hasn’t tasted one of those in six months. This week, Liverpool return to Europa League action at home against Union St.Gilloise and then go to Brighton on Sunday for their next Premier League match, where they will try to get back on track by avoiding red cards and winning football matches.
4. Real Madrid (Esp) (111 pts) (LW 5) -Unlike the clubs ahead of it in the rankings last week, Real Madrid took care of business in all of their matches last week, beating Las Palmas 2-0 at the Bernabeu in midweek before winning 3-0 at Girona over the weekend. This good form will need to continue as the royal club prepares to take on Napoli in Italy on Tuesday night’s Champions League match. The busy pre-international break schedule will come to an end on Saturday afternoon when Real Madrid will host Osasuna in a La Liga matchup.
5. Arsenal (Eng) (103 points) (LW 6) - This was a rather good week for the Gunners, starting off with a narrow 1-0 victory over Brentford that was enough to move them into the next round of the League Cup, and then following that up with a 4-0 win at Bournemouth. They have one more road match coming up, this time in France to take on Lens in Champions League action, before returning home for the match of the weekend at home against top-ranked Manchester City.
6. Inter Milan (Ita) (101 pts) (LW 4) - Break up Sassuolo!! Following up their two goal victory over Juventus, Sassuolo defeated Inter Milan 2-1 at the San Siro in what has to be the best pair of upsets any club has had thus far in this early season. Internazionale was able to bounce back and manhandle Salernitana to a 4-0 result in Serie A play. Inter will be at home for both of their matches this week, hosting Benfica in what should be a fun Champions League Group Stage match, and then welcoming Bologna to Milan on Saturday’s closing action before the next international break.
7. Barcelona (Esp) (91 points) (LW 7) -Barça probably wasn’t expecting to drop points at Mallorca, but that’s what happened in midweek in a 2-2 away draw. They did bounce back to pick up the full three at “home” against Sevilla in a 1-0 win. Barcelona will have to play a little better than they did this week when they travel to take on Porto in their second Champions League Group Stage match if they want to take three points in that contest. They will be on the road again on Sunday night, but the team they face in Granada should be a step down form the one they take on in Portugal.
8. Napoli (Ita) (90 pts) (LW 9) - After three straight matches without a victory in Serie A, Napoli came back with a bang this week, scoring eight goals in two league matches, with a 4-1 win vs Udinese and a 3-0 victory over Lecce. Tuesday night, Napoli will host Real Madrid in one of the premier Champion League matches of the week. They will remain in southern Italy when Fiorentina comes to visit on Sunday night.
9. RB Leipzig (Ger) (85.5 pts) (LW 8) - In a surprisingly entertaining match, RB Leipzig started its defense of its DFB Pokal title with a 3-2 victory at Wehen Wiesbaden. Later in the week, it looked like they were on a train headed to victory at home against Bayern Munich, but that got derailed and it was all Leipzig could do, ultimately, to hold on to a 2-2 draw against the eleven-time defending Bundesliga titlists. Things don’t get any easier this week as Leipzig finds itself hosting top-ranked Manchester City in its Champions League match at midweek and then taking on Bochum at home on Saturday night in Bundesliga action.
10. Atlético Madrid (Esp) (74.5 pts) (LW 10) - Atleti continued on their winning ways, defeating Osasuna on the road 2-0 in midweek before spotting Cadiz 2 goals in a more-thrilling-than-expected 3-2 victory. Atletico will be at home for two tough but winnable matches this week, hosting Feyenoord on Thursday in the Champions League and then 22nd ranked Real Sociedad in a quest to keep their home winning streak alive.
11. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (66 pts) (LW 12)
12. Newcastle United (Eng) (63 pts) (LW 13)
13. Porto (Por) (62 pts) (LW 11)
14. AC Milan (Ita) (62 pts) (LW 15)
15. Paris St. Germain (Fra) (56 pts) (LW 14)
16. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (49 pts) (LW 17)
17. Benfica (Por) (45 pts) (LW 18)
18. Manchester United (Eng) (40.5 pts) (LW 16)
19. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (32.5 pts) (LW 20)
20. Aston Villa (Eng) (22 pts) (LW 22)
21. Juventus (Ita) (22 pts) (LW 21)
22. Real Sociedad (Esp) (18 pts) (LW NR)
23. Sporting CP (Por) (16 pts) (LW 24)
24. Brighton (Eng) (14 pts) (LW 19)
25. West Ham United (Eng) (10 pts) (LW 25)
Also receiving points: Feyenoord (Ned) (9), Palmeiras (Bra) (5), RB Salzburg (Aut) (3), PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (3), Chelsea (Eng) (3), Brentford (Eng) (2), Fenerbahce (Tur) (2).