LaLiga table September 20 - Barcelona have won all seven and lead by six, but nothing is clinched

Barcelona have played seven matches and won seven. That is 21 points from a possible 21, 31 goals scored, seven conceded, and a goal difference of plus 24 that is more than twice anyone else's. They lead Real Madrid and Real Betis by six points. In the only currency this site trades in, which is what the arithmetic already guarantees, that lead is worth nothing at all yet.

Every number below is computed as of the September 20 update and from the fixture list as it stands. Sunday is not finished. Two of that day's matches are in the table, Sevilla 1-3 Barcelona and Celta 5-0 Racing, and two are not, because Atlético against Real Madrid and Getafe against Málaga were still to be played when these figures were drawn. Sixty-four of the season's 380 matches have been played. Nine clubs have seven behind them, ten have six, and Levante have played five.

At the top: Barcelona 21 points from seven, Real Madrid and Betis 15 from six with five wins and one defeat each, Atlético Madrid 13 from six, Sevilla 13 from seven, Alavés 11 from seven. Four points cover second place to sixth. The four Champions League places belong today to Barcelona, Real Madrid, Betis and Atlético. Atlético and Sevilla are level on 13, and our table separates level clubs by goal difference and then goals scored: Atlético are plus eight, Sevilla plus one. Betis sit third having scored eight goals, fewer than any other club in the top seven, on the back of five wins from six. Real Madrid and Betis have each played one match fewer than Barcelona. If both win that match, the gap at the top is three.

Seven matches is under a fifth of a 38-match season. Barcelona have 31 left, a maximum of 93 further points, and a theoretical ceiling of 114. We are not going to tell you what a 100 percent start has historically been worth, because we do not publish probabilities of any kind. What we can tell you is what the lead is made of. Six points is two wins. Barcelona are taking 3.00 points per match, Real Madrid and Betis 2.50. Half a point per match, carried across the 31 matches Barcelona have left, is 15.5 points. That is why a six-point lead in September describes the past rather than reserving the future.

The clinch numbers do exist, and in September they are mostly a demonstration of their own limits. To guarantee a top-four finish on its own results, Barcelona would need 85 further points out of the 93 still available to them. Every other club's figure is 91 or more out of 96, which is another way of saying that nobody clinches anything in September. All of those figures assume that every one of the other 19 clubs wins every one of its remaining matches, which cannot happen, because those clubs play each other. Nothing has closed in the other direction either. No club in the division can be eliminated from the top four by fewer than 29 further defeats, and the top five have no elimination number at all, because no four clubs can yet be guaranteed to finish above them. Twenty-nine defeats out of a possible 31 is not a warning about any particular club. It is the arithmetic reporting that the question has not opened yet.

The middle of the table is four points deep and nine clubs wide. Alavés are sixth on 11 and Deportivo La Coruña seventh on nine. Athletic Club, Rayo Vallecano and Osasuna have eight. Celta Vigo, Espanyol, Real Sociedad and Racing Santander have seven. Celta have drawn four of their seven, more than any other club. Rayo and Osasuna have identical records, two wins, two draws and three defeats, and are separated only by goal difference, minus five against minus seven.

The bottom three are Elche on five points, Valencia on four and Málaga on three. Two points is the whole distance from 20th to 15th: Villarreal, Levante, Getafe and Elche are all on five, and Levante have played five matches to Elche's seven. Málaga are the only club in the division without a win, with three draws, three defeats and three goals in six matches. Valencia have scored two goals in six, the fewest in LaLiga. Racing Santander have conceded 21, four more than any other club, and sit 14th, which is the clearest reminder in the table that points and goal difference are different problems. Arithmetically, nobody is down and nobody is safe. Valencia and Málaga each carry a relegation number of 32, which is every match they have left: they would have to lose all 32 before the drop became unavoidable, which is another way of saying that relegation cannot be settled mathematically before their final match of the season. Run the same calculation the other way and Elche and Málaga are the only two clubs that cannot yet reach a guaranteed-safe total at all. Elche's ceiling is 98 points and Málaga's is 99, and the worst case asks for 100. That is a statement about how crude worst-case maths is in September, not about either club.

What to watch next. The Madrid derby is still to come later on Sunday, September 20, with Real Madrid away at Atlético. A Real Madrid win puts them on 18 from seven and cuts Barcelona's lead to three. An Atlético win puts Atlético on 16 and above both Real Madrid and Betis. The same day, Málaga travel to Getafe, 20th against 17th, and a first Málaga win of the season would lift them above their hosts. On September 21, Betis are at Deportivo and a win takes them to 18 points, Real Sociedad are at Valencia, and Levante are at Villarreal in a meeting of two clubs on five points. After that the fixture list in our feed is empty until October 10, when Espanyol visit Málaga, Atlético visit Alavés and Athletic visit Rayo.

How to read these numbers. In a points league, a clinch number is the minimum number of further points that guarantees the outcome even if every rival wins every remaining match. A tragic number is the number of further defeats after which the outcome is impossible even if the club takes everything else on offer. Ties are counted against the club in question, so our clinch can trail an official announcement by a day, and level clubs are ordered by goal difference and then goals scored. The full table and every club's numbers are on the league page, the remaining fixtures are at, the qualification and relegation rules at, and you can push individual results through the table yourself at. Club pages work like.