Arsenal lose top spot as we rank post-World Cup mood at 20 Premier League clubs

Everyone's had a few celebratory Premier League games and we've (pretty much) had a wonderfully shocking FA Cup third round, so it seems fitting to see how the mood around the clubs have changed since those distant days of November when it still didn't quite look like a World Cup was about to happen. But it happened, and now there are many other things.

So who's the gayest and who's feeling darker and darker? Here's our best guess, with the November standings in parentheses…

20. Southampton (16) Hum. Fired Ralph Hasenhuttl, which was a shame but fair enough. Then named Nathan Jones, which was a nice idea but probably for a team not fighting for its very existence in the Premier League.

Three defeats in three games under Jones – the latest of which, a disastrous home loss to Nottingham Forest – have put them in a tight spot. With seven clubs separated by three points from 13th to 19th trying to claw their way out of relegation, Southampton have to get on with it first. There is already a significant chance that will require a third season manager. Non-zero chance of a Wiganesque double relegated and winner of the FA-Cup. Something, huh?

19. West Ham (20) Their fate isn't currently as bleak as Southampton's, and a frantic 2-2 draw at Leeds at least stemmed some of the bleeding after a five-game losing streak, but they still haven't Premier League match won. since October and are outside the bottom three by just one goal. For a club that has finished sixth and seventh for the past two seasons and then invested significantly this summer, it's a tough fall, although its supporters warned us in the comments about this feature there. months ago, when we thought everything was still relatively rosy for the Hammers.

Like many other clubs on the lower end of this list, the main cause for optimism (beyond a suddenly very open FA Cup) is the sheer number of teams that are just as bad as they. It is currently an eight-team scrimmage from which no team currently looks likely to extricate itself directly, but of which, by definition, five will survive.

18. Chelsea (19) Actually quite impressive to be the most shambolic of the Big Six this season given the efforts of Spurs and Liverpool, but Chelsea are currently winning handsomely. There were at least a few green shoots in this week's loss to Manchester City, but looking for positive signs in a home loss to City is a bit 'Old Arsenal'. This can't be good enough for Chelsea and besides, how often do we see precisely this kind of improved performance in this kind of game only to go back to average crap next time?

Todd Boehly and the top brass may be oddly willing to accept a lengthy rebuild (on Chelsea's terms) and transitional season, but it's less clear that fans are as receptive to Graham Potter's ongoing struggles. And besides, 'rebuild' and 'transitional' shouldn't really in Chelsea's case mean 'as close to the bottom three as the top four' and yet here they are, 10 points off the two pointy ends of the table. Getting out of the FA Cup for Manchester City is no shame, but the way it was done was pretty grim.

One positive: the last time they had such a bad season, they won the championship the following year.

17. Everton (17) Another manager found Everton an impossible job. Luckily for Frank Lampard, his friends in the media will ensure 'not the only one to blame' will be smoothed out to 'not at all to blame' but a) it's hard to see how that helps Lampard so much given his now, the lowest stock surely means that the middle of the Venn diagram of 'The club would offer Lampard a job' and 'The job Lampard would deem worthy of him' is now empty and b) none of this has any consequences for the Everton fans watching another grim relegation battle unfold before them.

There's plenty more trash in the last eight this season, but there's no guarantee for the Toffees. And there isn't even a single one of the wrestlers with the breakout potential of a fun but doomed FA Cup run to enjoy a bit.

16. Leicester (15) Seemed to have turned a corner ahead of the World Cup but have doubled since, losing all three league games in the restart and putting Gillingham to work hard in the cup. Could be a team that we can file under "Break Came At A Bad Time", could just...