Portsmouth go bust; Liverpool go third; West Ham go bottom - How the table would look

The idea of Portsmouth going bust has put the frighteners up the Premier League.

But Liverpool supporters might be forgiven for secretly hoping Pompey miss their seven day High Court survival deadline.

The Fratton Park club, described as "insolvent" by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs' barrister, Gregory Mitchell QC, were told at today's hearing by High Court Registrar Christine Derrett that she needs to see proof Portsmouth can pay their outstanding £11.5million tax bill by 4pm next Wednesday.

If not, and many will find the idea that two potential buyers are interested another pipe-dream by a club that puts the fan in "fantasy", the Court could send Portsmouth into liquidation next Friday.

That would be the worst possible outcome for the League, ready to impose its nine-point penalty - effectively condemning Pompey to relegation - the moment they enter administration, which seems the nightmare best-case scenario for the club.

In an instant, though, it would transform the look of the table - and could make Liverpool's Christmas loss at Fratton Park, bizarrely, one of their best results of the entire campaign.

If Pompey go bust and out of business, then all their results would be expunged, leaving a 19-club league and a season reduced to 36 official matches.

The consequences would be dramatic at both ends of the table, with Liverpool, Wolves, Wigan and Burnley, the four teams who have conspired to lose to Pompey this season, the ones with most to gain as their rivals lose up to six points.

Before tonight's game at Arsenal, Rafa Benitez' men would stand third in the revised table on their current tally of 44 points, a point ahead of the Gunners, with Spurs three further points adrift in third and Manchester City another two behind, albeit with two games in hand.

At the bottom, the effect would be equally graphic.

West Ham, currently a point off safety, would suddenly plummet four points and two places to the foot of the table, six points adrift of safety.

Relegation, at this stage a fear, would start to look far more likely, a truly dangerous situation for a club whose players have already been put on notice of a 25 per cent pay cut by new co-owner David Sullivan.

Bolton join them in the drop zone - now just two clubs, of course - with Wolves rising two spots to 17th merely by standing still.

Burnley would leapfrog Hull into 15th while Wigan, hammered 4-0 at Portsmouth in October, stay 14th but with their goal difference earning a significant boost and better than the three clubs - Burnley, Hull and Wolves - immediately behind them.

Just nine points would separate Bolton, one off the bottom, from Fulham in 10th, with Stoke, Blackburn and Sunderland all dragged into the dog-fight too.

Were the winding-up order to be imposed, then the clubs affected adversely might start to question the Premier League's part in affairs.

The League, remember, ignored the doubts over Dubai-based "businessman" Sulaiman Al-Fahim to allow his summer takeover to go ahead amid claims of links with Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards.

Should the worst happen, then chief executive Richard Scudamore will have some uncomfortable questions to answer, although administration would make things far easier for the League.

This is how the Premier League table would look if Portsmouth went out of business: