Premier League table without VAR: Aston Villa top Liverpool, Newcastle fall, West Ham soar - gallery

The World Cup is over and the return of the Premier League is now within touching distance as the 20 teams in the English flight prepare for competitive action once again. West Midlands clubs Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers both play on Boxing Day and they will be eager to turn their respective seasons around under new managers.

Villa had somewhat of a revival in a couple of games immediately before the World Cup, with two successive league victories under Unai Emery, but the mood before those results was far from positive. Now in 12th position, the Villans have a much better platform to push onwards and upwards from, but the season on the whole has been rather underwhelming.

Wolves meanwhile are rock bottom of the Premier League, down in 20th position with just two wins in their opening 15 games. The Wanderers have netted a division-low of eight goals - three fewer than the second-worst scorers, Nottingham Forest and Everton. Julen Lopetegui has had a while to put his new players through their paces, though, and the imminent signing of Matheus Cunha could boost the mood.

Having been over six weeks since the last Premier League fixture was played, supporters up and down the country have been debating how their respective teams have performed. Some, regardless of which side of things their club has been, may have thought about how the table could have looked without the involvement of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

Thankfully for all those interested to know, ESPN have recently put together new league standings without VAR, taking into account a variety of factors. These include team form, the time of incidents, the xG at the time of key moments, team strength and the impact of incidents. Here is what ESPN found...