'Manchester City Are The Least Efficient Team In The Premier League

Manchester City should have .36 points more per game in the Premier League this season, making them the least efficient team with their possession and chances in England's top tier this season.

Pep Guardiola's men aren't having a good defence of the title they won last season and are 16 points behind leaders Liverpool, having lost five times and drawn three.

Despite the poor results City are still dominating most games and that's what makes them the least efficient team in the league, according to CIES Observatory.

The Swiss data analysts base their algorithm on possession, shots taken and where the shots are taken from and have revealed that City should be earning 2.45 points per game and are only earning 2.09.

Liverpool meanwhile are the most efficient side with 0.66 more points per game than they 'should' have, meaning if both teams were playing at 'zero' efficiency then City would be topping the table.

The Premier League's most efficient teams. Image: PA Images

There has been several occasions this season when Jurgen Klopp's team have looked like they would drop points but the mark of their brilliance this season is that they've kept going and picked up wins where they'd have usually drawn.

To date the Reds' only dropped points came at Old Trafford against rivals Manchester United and even then they were 1-0 down until a late Adam Lallana goal, showing their determination.

City on the other hand have absolutely dominated in games where they've dropped points. Against Crystal Palace earlier this month they had 73% possession and 25 shots but drew 2-2, despite Palace having just five shots.

That result was also indicative of why Palace are third in the list, behind just Liverpool and Newcastle United, another side doing well to bat above their average.

Newcastle beat Chelsea despite having just 30% of possession. Image: PA Images

Manchester United fans might despair to find that their club are also one of the most inefficient teams in the league but they wouldn't actually be any higher up the table.

They have the fifth best points per game ratio in the league currently and despite them having a -0.26 efficiency difference they'd still only have the fifth best points per game ratio if everything was even.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team would have 1.74 points per game at zero efficiency but would still be behind City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester City if they were all at zero too.