Leeds United have been placed the highest of all Championship teams and above Premier League Sheffield United in an updated list of power rankings.
The Global Club Soccer Rankings, published by American data analytics website FiveThirtyEight, rank 634 clubs from across the world with Manchester City in the top spot. They placed Leeds at number 102 in their freshly updates standings, three places above the Blades and one spot behind Norwich City, who were also promoted from the Championship last season.
Another local rival in Huddersfield Town is the second-ranked Championships sides, with the relegated Terriers sitting 28 places below Leeds in 130th spot. Second tier sides Stoke (152), Brentford (154), West Brom (155), Cardiff (160), Swansea (165), Middlesbrough (175) and Bristol City (180) follow, while Derby County sit in 181st position.
The rankings are based on SPI ratings, FiveThirtyEight's best estimate of a team's overall strangth.
Every team has an offensive rating representing the number of goals it would be expected to score against an average team and a defensive rating representing the amount of goals they'd be expected to concede.
These ratings produce an overall SPI rating which represents the percentage of available points (a win being three points, a draw being one and none for a loss) that the team would be expected to take if that match was played over and over again. Still following?
Before a season starts, a team's SPI ratings are based on its ratings at the end of the previous season and its market value as calculated by the website Transfermarkt which assigns a monetary value to each player.
The rankings are then adjusted after every game based on a team's performance in that match and the strength of its opponent - so the ranking doesn't necessarily improve after a win, it's about how the team performs compared to how the model expects it to.
Pre-season opposition Manchester United rank at 17 (16 places below their cross-city rivals Manchester City who top the list), Western Sydney Wanderers at 478 and the team Leeds will play first in this season's Championship Bristol City come in at number 180.
