The weeketh of ranketh continueth.

My buddy Bill Connelly and I came up with our fourth edition of the Premier League power rankings — and there’s a new no. 1! And 2! And 4! And 6! And, well, you see where I’m going:

If you look back at all of those possession totals for City, you can see that there was a sudden decline from 2021-22 to last season: more than three percentage points. In order to get the most out of Haaland -- a player who isn't going to drop deep and combine with teammates, and also someone who simply isn't going to touch the ball that often -- City had to get a little more comfortable without the ball. And to get more comfortable without the ball, Guardiola adjusted by playing more traditional defenders than he had in the past.

Doing so, in turn, put a bigger burden on De Bruyne to generate opportunities for his teammates. In the past, City created loads of opportunities no matter who was on the field. They were dominant in 2018-19 when De Bruyne nearly missed the whole season and never really suffered in the matches he missed in the following seasons, either. Now, though, it just doesn't work anywhere near as well without him and without Haaland turning this smaller load of possessions into even higher quality opportunities.

I was also on ESPN FC Live to discuss the rankings, the best manager in the world (Sean Dyche), and Saturday’s Liverpool–Arsenal match:

Merry Christmas, to all those who celebrate. Happy Friday, to everyone.