📈 Power Rankings: Barça and Napoli slip, new Premier League club enters | OneFootball

The international break is already a distant memory and it’s time to revisit the club game and our Power Rankings as the season hits its final straight …

10. Aston Villa (🆕)

The only new arrival of the week, Villa have quietly crept up the Premier League table to now sit seventh. A European spot is now a realistic target for Unai Emery and his team.

The form of Ollie Watkins has helped lead the charge up the table and Villa have returned to action with away wins over Chelsea and Leicester to make it five victories from their last six Premier League matches after defeats to Man City and Arsenal.

9. Bayer Leverkusen (👍 Last week: 10)

Four league wins in a row and six in all competitions, could Leverkusen quietly be favourites for the Europa League?

Xabi Alonso’s side are performing at both ends of the pitch and have really hit their stride at the right time, their strong run coming along with Florian Wirtz’s long-awaited return to full fitness.

With him shining centrally and Moussa Diaby striking up a superb partnership with Jeremie Frimpong out wide, they’re exciting to watch and a side to be feared.

8. Bayern Munich (No change)

A topsy-turvy first week for Thomas Tuchel, who oversaw a potentially title-deciding win over Borussia Dortmund before Bayern slumped to a shock cup defeat to SC Freiburg in midweek.

It’s a third year in a row Bayern will not win the DFB-Pokal and it was a real crash back down to earth just to remind everyone that Tuchel has plenty of work ahead of him.

7. Atlético de Madrid (👍 Last week: 9)

The talk that Diego Simeone would leave at the end of the season feels so far away now.

It’s four wins in row in LaLiga for Atleti and a whopping 11 games without defeat as Antoine Griezmann continues to deliver the best season he has enjoyed for years.

6. Barcelona (👎 Last week: 2)

Who saw that coming? Barcelona looked good value for a domestic double until Wednesday, when they surrendered a first leg lead and lost 4-0 at home against Real Madrid to give up their place in the Copa del Rey final.

League form remains strong and Barça are on course for the title still, but that defeat stung and maybe they aren’t quite the finished article yet.

5. Napoli (👎 Last week: 3)

Seriously now, who saw that one coming? A Napoli side without Victor Osimhen was stunned 4-0 by Milan last weekend, making it just three Serie A defeats for the season.

Napoli remain a massive 16 points clear at the top of the table and will have a shot at revenge against Milan in the Champions League but this must have rocked the confidence of a team that has spent so much of the campaign looking untouchable.

4. Benfica (👍 Last week: 6)

With Barcelona and Napoli slipping up, and Bayern still not finding any consistency, Champions League quarter-finalists Benfica are on the rise.

Roger Schmidt’s side have played breathtaking football all season and the results have matched — it’s now 10 wins in a row in the league and 12 wins from the last 13 games in all competitions. Now, with Porto and Inter to play, they enter their biggest week of the season to date.

3. Juventus (👍 Last week: 5)

Juventus might have something to say about Leverkusen (or Manchester United) being fancied for the Europa League. A late penalty saw Inter draw in Turin in Tuesday’s Coppa Italia semi-final first leg but don’t let that fool you, Juve have seriously turned a corner from the first half of the season.

Finishing in the top four in the league would be a sensational achievement given their 15-point deduction and they are the form team in the race for the position with the gap to Inter and Roma now cut to just six points.

2. Arsenal (👍 Last week: 4)

A seven-game Premier League winning run right off the back of the defeat to Manchester City in February is exactly what Mikel Arteta would’ve asked for. It’s the Gunners’ longest winning run since the Spaniard took over and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

It’s also the longest such run any team has enjoyed in the top flight so far this season and three goals per game in that spell. Now they enter crunch time, with a trip to Anfield up on Sunday, with everything to play for.

1. Manchester City (No change)

Unfortunately for Arsenal, Manchester City might be the only team on the planet that could chase them down. Pep Guardiola’s side are now unbeaten in 11 in all competitions, winning nine of them, and looked absolutely dominant even without Erling Haaland against Liverpool on Saturday.

City so often hit their stride at this part of the season and it looks like they may have done the same yet again.