The ALTERNATIVE Premier League table: Manchester United miss out, Arsenal fall to 12th

As doubts grow about the viability of playing out the rest of the Premier League season, a number of methods have been mooted to complete the campaign.

There are those who would take the table at the halfway stage – when everybody had played each other once – and simply double the points totals.

Others think the fairest method would be to go on a points per game basis to work out how the campaign should conclude.

There are some who think it is best to just take the table as it stands. 

On Thursday morning, French newspaper L’Equipe came up with their own method of working out the Ligue 1 table.

It uses all of the matches – and therefore data – available, but does away with the ‘injustice’ of how the fixture list has fallen for a given team. 

A single result against a team stands. But playing a club twice leads to different outcomes, as explained in the methodology. 

Your points taken from results against clubs you have played twice are halved.

A pair of wins results in three points, a win and a draw in two and a win and a loss in 1.5 points. Similarly, two draws equals a point, a draw and a loss is worth 0.5 and, unsurprisingly, two defeats is worth nothing.

As L’Equipe put it, it has the advantage of giving the same weight to results obtained for a team against each of the 19 opponents they have played.

While reports now suggest PSG will be crowned champions by using the fixed table, the alternative was interesting. 

Applying it to the Premier League was a combined effort between Sportsmail and Opta’s data wizards. And while a lot of the Premier League has come out similarly, there have been some surprising final positions.

For example, Arsenal would slide down the table. While they have had a difficult campaign, no one would expect them to finish in the bottom half. 

But the L’Equipe method has brought about that outcome. They drop from ninth to 12th below Crystal Palace, Burnley and Newcastle, for their worst finish since 1994-95.

Palace finish ninth, jumping up two places, and there’s a boost for Newcastle too.

Meanwhile, Manchester United would miss out on a place in the Champions League again. They would be stuck in the same place they are in the Premier League, fifth behind Chelsea.

The top four would be the same as it currently is, although the gap between City and Leicester would tighten to just two points.

And Liverpool would break the Premier League record for points collected in a single season. They would have 109, nine more than City achieved in 2017-18.

There would also be no European football for Spurs next season – just two campaigns after reaching the Champions League final – as they would finish eighth.

Meanwhile, Wolves and Sheffield United could look forward to European tours, depending on what is decided about the FA Cup. 

While the entire top eight would remain in the same positions according to this method, there would be huge differences at the bottom.

It would lead to a celebration for Bournemouth, who would climb out of the relegation zone and secure another season of Premier League football.

Despite being bumped up, there would be no second season in the Premier League for Aston Villa, who would finish 18th.

The real blow, though, would be dealt to Watford. They have undergone a mini-revival under the stewardship of Nigel Pearson.

Yet their results would see them collect just 32 points all season. That would mean they would slide into the relegation zone and finish 19th.

Unsurprisingly, current basement boys Norwich would not have a reprieve and would still be bottom of the league.

There would also be disappointing outcomes for Everton – dropping two places – and Brighton – falling one – while West Ham and Southampton would each go up one spot. 

PS: For those wondering about the Championship – West Brom would win the league on 89 points while Leeds would go up in second on 85. Fulham on 79, Nottingham Forest on 77, Brentford on 76, and Preston on 74 would make up the play-off places.