Weren't Bournemouth bottom half for a long time before climbing steadily in the second half of last season? Going further back, 'Boro lost goodness knows how many on the bounce and dropped like a stone in the PL.
Plenty of instances where the table does 'lie'.
Part of the problem with all this talk is the fact that all the tables have the play-off and relegation places marked out from Day 1. This makes people teams down the bottom at this relatively early stages are pretty doomed, and teams at the top are in with a shout. I'm sure that years ago they...