With a winter World Cup on the horizon, a busy spell of Champions League group fixtures and packed-in league clashes have been the order of the day across Europe before players jet off to Qatar in mid-November. It's made for a fair old jostle for positions in The Sportsman's latest Football Power Rankings, with Liverpool the most notable absentees from the latest top 10.
Based on achievements over the past five seasons, with a sliding scale rewarding more recent successes most heavily, we’ve come up with an algorithm which identifies the very best teams across domestic leagues and European competition. Here are the top 40 teams in the rankings including all results up to and including October 30:
40. Panathinaikos (previously 37th), Dnipro (-) - 15.000
39. Genk (86th) - 15.938
38. Lille (35th) - 16.313
37. Villarreal (27th) - 17.250
36. Real Sociedad (52nd) - 17.625
35. Real Betis (23rd) - 19.063
34. Monaco (25th) - 19.500
33. Benfica (31st) - 19.688
32. Freiburg (29th) - 19.750
31. Eintracht Frankfurt (32nd) - 20.859
30. Lazio (28th) - 21.219
29. Roma (26th) - 21.305
27. Young Boys (24th), Juventus (30th) - 21.563
26. Lens (34th) - 22.500
25. Marseille (9th) - 24.375
24. Manchester United (22nd) - 24.391
23. RB Leipzig (33rd) - 24.594
22. Stade Rennais (45th) - 24.938
21. Celtic (21st) - 25.313
20. Tottenham Hotspur (20th) - 25.422
19. Atalanta (17th) - 27.500
18. Ajax (46th) - 28.594
16. Red Star Belgrade (14th), Zenit St Petersburg (14th) - 29.063
15. Red Bull Salzburg (12th) - 30.000
14. Borussia Dortmund (7th) - 31.289
13. Liverpool (10th) - 31.422
12. Union Berlin (11th) - 31.500
11. Inter (18th) - 32.000
10. Chelsea (13th) - 33.359
Even taking into account a 4-1 loss at Brighton & Hove Albion it was a decent October for the Blues under new manager Graham Potter. That reverse spoiled an otherwise-unbeaten month which saw them pick up six wins and two draws, progressing in the Champions League along the way.
9. Arsenal (8th) - 33.531
Seven wins from nine and only a single European defeat saw Mikel Arteta's side continue their fine start to the campaign. Only their lack of Champions League participation and the breath of Manchester City on their necks threatens their top-10 placing right now.
8. AC Milan (16th) - 33.625
They may well have suffered home-and-away defeats against Chelsea in Europe but were four from four in the league in October until suffering a first away loss in 18 Serie A matches against Torino on Sunday. A draw against Salzburg this week and they pick up a Champions League bonus by reaching the last 16.
7. Atletico Madrid (19th) - 34.680
Another surprise loser at the weekend - they were beaten by a 99th-minute goal in Cadiz - Atleti have had an otherwise profitable few weeks since the last edition of the rankings. Four league wins saw them slowly climb back into the top three in La Liga.
6. Barcelona (6th) - 35.969
Barca are unchanged. They're still skint, they're still not good enough for the Champions League knockouts, and they're still in sixth spot in the rankings after maintaining their pursuit of Real Madrid in the Primera Liga. The league is their best hope of picking up big rewards now they've dropped into the Europa again.
5. Napoli (5th) - 38.984
Could Napoli finally win their first Serie A title not to feature Diego Maradona? The Partenopei are in sensational form across the board, with eight wins from eight in all comps in October thanks largely to the 28 goals they bagged. With Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen in this form, anything is possible.
4. Bayern Munich (4th) - 49.992
We always knew their early-season form would be but a blip, and Bayern are back on the heels of surprise leaders Union Berlin in the Bundesliga. Seven wins from eight see them bolster their position in our top four.
3. Manchester City (3rd) - 50.641
A defeat to Liverpool in the league and draws with Copenhagen and Borussia Dortmund in Europe showed that City can be foiled. But they still look like England's most likely champions and will be a concern for any side in the latter stages in Europe too. Candidates to overhaul Madrid at the top? Maybe.
2. Paris Saint-Germain (2nd) - 53.367
PSG are still unbeaten in 2022-23 after 19 games in all competitions and have scored 14 goals across three successive wins in the last 10 days. Turns out having Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in the same team can do you some good - asides from the politics, of course.
1. Real Madrid (1st) - 65.164
They remain pretty much the Champions of Everything but Los Blancos arguably look a little more vulnerable as the World Cup closes in, with a Champions League loss to RB Leipzig and a home league draw with Girona ending their October schedule on a sour note. Are cracks finally beginning to show in Carlo Ancelotti's well-oiled kamikaze comeback machine?
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
