Reading Stun United to go Top

Unbelievable. Just as it looked like Manchester United had wrapped up the Promroiship, Reading nick a one goal defeat to go top with a week to go. The Red Devils, clearly distracted by the Premier League title, succumbed to a disastrous 5 goal win which meant that despite heading the Match of the Day Running Order they obtained less Promroiship points than the third match involving the Royals. With Fulham also closing the gap we are in for an exciting final Promroiship weekend, with a full slate of Premier League fixtures giving us a multiplier in the formula below of 10 - the maximum possible and unprecedented since the competitions inception.

A bottom of the table clash between Blackburn and Derby saw both teams keep up their weak Promroiship form and achieve no points, leaving things at the bottom exactly the same as they were as last week. There is little point having a high scoring match at this time in the season when you are playing for very little.

Just to remind you, weekly points are calculated using the formula (m-g)*n where

m is the points for position in the running order (10 for appearing in first match, 9 for second etc)
g is the number of goals in match
n is the number of Premier League matches on MOTD

Promroiship Results May 3rd 2008 (Match of the Day Running Order)

Manchester United v West Ham....35
Fulham v Birmingham City........49
Reading v Tottenham Hotspur.....49
Bolton Wanderers v Sunderland...35
Middlesborough v Portsmouth.....28
Aston Villa v Wigan Athletic....21
Blackburn Rovers v Derby County..0

The Promroiship Table after Round 18


Reading .............554*
Manchester United ...545*
Fulham ..............519*
Arsenal .............469
Birmingham City......454*
Tottenham Hotspur....424*
Bolton Wanderers ....417*
West Ham United......403*
Chelsea .............395
Sunderland ..........392*
Middlesbrough .......350*
Newcastle United.....347
Manchester City .....335
Portsmouth ..........328*
Liverpool ...........327
Wigan Athletic ......319*
Aston Villa .........311*
Everton .............289
Blackburn Rovers.....253*
Derby County.........219*

* indicates match played in Round 18