Samir Nasri’s Gunners Near Top of Power Rankings, Liverpool Threatening to Make ‘Big Five”Big Six’

If you told an Arsenal supporter before the season that Samir Nasri would be the club's best player through 16 games, he probably wouldn't have said that the team would be at the top of the table. That's just the way things are this year in the wide-open Premier League.

Still, there's just enough to be skeptical about as far as the Gunners' defense is concerned, to call them the league's best team, especially when Manchester United are still undefeated, Carling Cup aside.

Since the first matchday, the league has appeared to be a five-team race for four Champions League spots, but Liverpool may soon have something to say about that. If their improved form continues against some of the league's weaker sides in December, they could be close to level pegging with Spurs, Manchester City or even the league's top three — who are set to play one another later this month.

See the rankings below.

Premier League Power Rankings
1 Last week: No. 1 Record: 8-7-0	Manchester United United must think the 30th game is cursed after coming up short following 29 straight wins — just as they did in 1999. United may have lost the top spot in the table by being snowed-out, but Chelsea's failure to take all three points means that United's long-term position actually improved.
2 Last week: No. 4 Record: 10-2-4	Arsenal Samir Nasri scored 12 goals total in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. He already has that many for Arsenal this time around, as he has developed into a legitimate star for the Gunners. There's no denying that Arsenal's arsenal of goal-scoring threats is deep and versatile, but that doesn't mean that the team's defensive deficiencies are any less clear.
3 Last week: No. 2 Record: 9-3-4	Chelsea Just about everybody is complaining at Stamford Bridge these days, with John Terry, Didier Drogba, Carlo Ancelotti and Petr Cech all expressing their worry this week. Injuries or not, Terry was exceptional against Everton, but Chelsea's draw was not an unlucky one. They were outshot 18-14 by the Toffees.
4 Last week: No. 3 Record: 7-5-4	Tottenham Hotspur Jermaine Defoe has been up-to-par filling in for Rafael Van der Vaart, but Tottenham do suddenly lack versatility in attacking options with only Roman Pavlyuchenko and Niko Kranjcar featuring off the bench. Drawing at St. Andrews is a decent result, but Spurs had three points in hand with 10 minutes to go, and they instead let Manchester City pull away in the race for fourth. That may just come back to haunt them.
5 Last week: No. 5 Record: 8-5-3	Manchester City Clean sheets against Bolton have been pretty tough to come by thus far this season, so you have to be impressed with City's result. Still, the reality that this team struggles to score continues to be mind-boggling. As evidenced by his nearly pivotal gaffe on Saturday, Joe Hart seems to have dipped in form ever so slightly from the beginning of the season when he was far and away the league's best.
6 Last week: No. 8 Record: 6-4-6	Liverpool Injury-plagued Villa may not be a fair measuring stick for any team, but Liverpool did everything that you'd want them to do without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres on Monday night. The team actually seemed to be building off the Tottenham performance — something that Liverpool had yet to show evidence of doing. Liverpool should finish in at least sixth this season.
7 Last week: No. 9 Record: 5-8-3	Sunderland The Black Cats did what they had to do against West Ham, and Fulham's offense isn't much better, but if Sunderland's injury woes in defense surfaced so mightily against Wolves, you'd expect them to do the same against Bolton and Manchester United later in December.
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