WCR Top 25 - October 31, 2023

A Champions League Group Stage leg and some super rivalry matches ended up causing a lot of movement in the rankings this week, though of course, Manchester City remains atop the list, still unanimously.

The Top Ten remained the same, though not quite in the same order.  Most importantly, on the heels of two victories with a combined scoreline of Bayern 11 Minnows 1, the Bavarians have retaken the second place position in the rankings.  Also, after falling from fifth to seventh the previous week, Arsenal reclaimed the number five spot this week, owing much to a 5-0 victory over Sheffield United while Inter and Real Madrid both squeaked by with one-goal victories in their domestic league matches, albeit against much, much tougher competition (Roma and Barcelona, respectively).

There was quite a bit of movement, however, below the fold.  Two clubs dropped as many as three spots, including Newcastle United and AC Milan, who dropped a full six notches from 13th to 19th after an eight-day period that saw them lose twice and draw once.  On a happier note, Real Sociedad jumped up three places and Aston Villa moved up from 22nd to 18th after dominant victories over AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League and Luton Town in the English Premier League.

Perhaps the biggest point of order in our rankings this week is the exit of two English clubs, Chelsea and West Ham, which leaves the Premier League at a record low (for them) of eight clubs in the rankings.  They were replaced by two Dutch clubs, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, as the Eredivisie makes its first trip to the rankings in over a month.

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) - City remained perfect in the Champions League Group Stage this week with a 3-1 victory in Switzerland against Young Boys.  They then looked like they were playing against more young boys in their dominant 3-0 victory over city-rivals Manchester United.  Having already been knocked out of the EFL Cup, City can take a little breather and wait for Bournemouth to come and visit on Saturday afternoon.

2.  Bayern Munich (Ger) (118 pts) (LW 3) - Bayern proved to be the better team on the road in their 3-1 victory over Galatasaray to take control of Group A in the Champions League.  Domestically, it’s not often you see a club take a red card in the first ten minutes of a match and then go on to win 8-0, but that’s what Bayern did against Darmstadt in their Saturday Bundesliga match.  This week, Bayern will return to DFB Pokal action against Saarbrücken on Wednesday evening and then stay on the road to take on archrival Borussia Dortmund, which is a match that may ultimately have a lot to say with respect to whether Bayern can win yet another Bundesliga title this season.

3.  Real Madrid (Esp) (115 pts) (LW 2) -Los Blancos pulled off a pair of huge 2-1 away victories this week, first at Braga to remain unblemished in their UCL campaign, and then at Barcelona in el clásico in a come-from-behind classic that saw Jude Bellingham score a brace in his first entry in this epic rivalry.  Next week, Real Madrid will be at  home against Rayo Vallecano, which could be a good match but will have trouble living up to the previous weekend’s battle.

4. Liverpool (Eng) (111 pts) (LW 4) - Liverpool rolled past Toulouse at home by a 5-0 score to remain unblemished in this season’s Europa League Group Stage.  Domestically, the Reds kept pace with all of the other Top Five clubs in the Premier League by scoring a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.  Next week will see Liverpool play twice away from Anfield, first at Bournemouth in a Wednesday night EFL Cup match, and then at Luton Town on Sunday in a return to league action.

5. Arsenal (Eng) (103 points) (LW 7) - Arsenal moved back on top of Group B in the UCL with a 2-1 victory at Sevilla and then used a huge second half to destroy Sheffield United, finishing with a 5-0 victory in what is turning into a nightmare return to the Premier League for the Blades.  Arsenal faces two matches that pose some potential danger, at West Ham on Wednesday night in an EFL Cup match before heading north to St. James’ Park to take on Newcastle United on Saturday night.

6.   Inter Milan (Ita) (100 pts) (LW 5) - Both of Internazionale’s matches last week were squeakers, but points is points, so they must be happy with their 2-1 victory over RB Salzburg that leaves them tied with Real Sociedad atop their Champions League group and their 1-0 win over Roma in Lukaku’s infamous return to the San Siro, which leaves Inter in first place in Serie A.  Inter’s weekend match will take place early Saturday evening when they visit rising club Atalanta in their next domestic league match.

7.  Barcelona (Esp) (96 points) (LW 6) -Barça remained perfect in Champions League action, beating Shakhtar Donetsk at “home”by a 2-1 score.  Later in the week, they started great against Real Madrid, but couldn't control Jude Bellingham in the second half and ended up falling by a 1-2 score in el clásico.  It doesn’t get a hell of a lot easier for Barcelona this week because they will hit the road to take on another ranked club in Real Sociedad on Saturday night.

8. Atlético Madrid (Esp) (89 pts) (LW 8) - Atléti managed only a draw in Scotland against Celtic, but that was enough to keep them in second place in their UCL group as the only undefeated team in said group.  They went on to score a 2-1 victory at home against Deportivo Alavés in domestic league competition.  Speaking of La Liga, Atlético will start the next week off with a Friday night match at Las Palmas.

9.  RB Leipzig (Ger) (81 pts) (LW 9) - Red Bull beat Red Star 3-1 at midweek to move closer to the knockout rounds of the Champions League before being a most inhospitable host to Köln in a 6-0 embarrassment of a match for the Billy Goats.  Leipzig will be on the road this week against a pair of German competitors, taking on Wolfsburg on Tuesday night as they continue to defend their DFB Pokal, and then traveling to Mainz on Saturday for their next domestic league match.

10.  Napoli (Ita) (76 pts) (LW 10) - Napoli eked past Union Berlin by a 1-0 score to secure second place behind Real Madrid in their collective UCL Group at midweek.  Sunday night, they spotted AC Milan two goals before coming back and securing a 2-2 draw, and almost winning the match at the end despite being down a man.  Coming up on Saturday, Napoli will return to Serie A action away at Salernitana.

11. Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (69 pts) (LW 12)

12. Paris St. Germain (Fra) (69 pts) (LW 14)

13. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) (59 pts) (LW 15)

14. Newcastle United (Eng) (55.5 pts) (LW 11)

15. Porto (Por) (53 pts) (LW 16)

16. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) (47 pts) (LW 17)

17. Real Sociedad (Esp)  (42.5 pts) (LW 20)

18. Aston Villa (Eng) (42.5 pts) (LW 22)

19. AC Milan (Ita) (42 pts) (LW 13)

20. Juventus (Ita) (37 pts) (LW 18)

21.  Manchester United (Eng) (30.5 pts) (LW 19)

22. Benfica (Por) (20 pts) (LW 21)

23. Brighton (Eng) (11 pts) (LW 23)

24. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) (9 pts) (LW 24)

25. Feyenoord (Ned) (8 pts) (LW 25) 

Also receiving points:   Chelsea (Eng) (5), Sporting CP (Por) (3.5), Brentford (Eng) (3), Fenerbahce (Tur) (2.5), Atalanta (Ita) (2), Lazio (Ita) (2).