Who Will Win (the Final 18 or 19) Games of the Premier League?

I’m realizing these emails pretty much always have a question in the subject line. Given how the average person consumes the written word, I’m also probably the only person who realized that — until I just made it clear to all of you.

Anyway! (This transition style — non sequitur, followed by an exclamatory word, followed by what I actually am here to talk about — is another crutch of mine.)

For ESPN, I tried to predict what the Premier League table would look like — if the English FA declared the first 20 games null and void, and then we just played out the remaining schedule and awarded a winner:

Uh ... what?

Two things are happening here: The first thing is that Everton have been impressive this season. That xG differential is nearly just as good as Villa's. And the second thing is that there's a decent chance their point deduction gets overturned, and they suddenly receive an extra 10 points.

That projected number seems to suggest that it's likely Everton will get the 10 points back. But I'm gonna take a slightly more conservative approach here and bump them down a few slots from where the markets have them. Also, though: read back that sentence! I just said that it's "conservative" to say Everton will win more points than 14 other teams in the Premier League before the end of the season. Second-season manager Sean Dyche might be special.

Enjoy your weekends, everyone!