English league: Pld 20 - Review

redspider

The league standings at the 20-games played point, in both last season and this season, are as follows:

2004/2005          2005/2006
Chelsea     49     Chelsea     55	
Arsenal     44     Man U       44	
Everton     40     Liverpool   44	
Man U       40     Tottenham   37	
Middlesboro 35     Arsenal     34	
Liverpool   34     Wigan       34	
Charlton    31     Bolton      33	
Tottenham   29     Blackburn   30	
Birmingham  26     Man C       28	
Portsmouth  26     Charlton    28	
Aston Villa 25     West Ham    26	
Man C       24     Newcastle   26	
Bolton      23     Middlesboro 22	
Newcastle   22     Aston Villa 22	
Blackburn   19     Fulham      20	
Fulham      18     Everton     20	
C Palace    15     West Brom   19	
Norwich     15     Portsmouth  17	
Southampton 14     Birmingham  16	
West Brom   11     Sunderland   6 

Whats of note is that Chelsea have stepped up the pace, and even though Man U have as well and are on a par with what Arsenal did last season, its not enough. Arsenal and Liverpool have essentialy swapped places in terms of points.

The change in form between this season and last is as follows:

Blackburn   11	
Bolton      10	
Liverpool   10	
Tottenham    8	
West Brom    8	
Chelsea      6	
Man C        4	
Man U        4	
Newcastle    4	
Fulham       2	
Aston Villa -3	
Charlton    -3	
Portsmouth  -9	
Arsenal     -10	
Birmingham  -10	
Middlesboro -13	
Everton     -20	

The fans of the clubs at the top will feel that there has been a step change improvement, while those at the lower end will feel a step change dis-improvement. For the likes of Chelsea its hard to improve on near-invincibility. But Man U are ahead of last season so whilst many things may seem to be going wrong, the league points tally and indeed table position are better.

Everton fans will be comforted as they have won all 3 games since their 20th and have as a result climbed up the table quite well.

Spurs are doing like Everton did last season and are really challenging for that 4th spot. But it remains to be seen if their results will be good enough to keep off a patchy Arsenal.

Of course Wigan are the surprises and may give the Uefa places a good run. Sunderland look down (even with their win today).

Attached is the ladder version which shows the teams points positions more clearly.

redspider

el rabitos

dude, you have liverpool and man u on equal points.

real table -

1 Chelsea 22 37 61
2 Man Utd 22 21 45
3 Liverpool 20 18 44
4 Tottenham 23 12 41

Chucky the tree

el rabitos wrote:

dude, you have liverpool and man u on equal points.

real table -

1 Chelsea 22 37 61
2 Man Utd 22 21 45
3 Liverpool 20 18 44
4 Tottenham 23 12 41

man united have played 2 games extra though. So i presume redspiders table is from when united had played 20 games.

el rabitos

seems a little insane to look at the table in that way, but whatever.

my elaborate copy and paste table makes perfect sence to me

Tusky

el rabitos wrote:

seems a little insane to look at the table in that way, but whatever.

my elaborate copy and paste table makes perfect sence to me

why ? its not insane at all. It shows how teams have improved or ...eh..unproved from last season.

el rabitos

i suppose, if ur interested in looking at the difference from last season. i'm more interested in the current table

Guy:Incognito

el rabitos wrote:

i suppose, if ur interested in looking at the difference from last season. i'm more interested in the current table

Not everyone has played the same amount of games. The only accurate way to show it is to start from the team with the lowest games played (liverpool) and peg everyone back to there. What happens if Liverpool beat UTd tomorow and then win their 2 games in hand? they will be 8 points ahead of UTd with 23 games played each as opposed to a VERY different 1 point behind Utd with 20/22 played , thats a much different prospect.

PHB

Yeh, it makes sense to look at it this way, infact if anything it favours United so like, whats the problem?

This is the real problem for United, they have stepped up a gear, albeit a small one, and seem to be improving, but just can't do anythign to get near chelsea.
I'm trying to remmeber the last time we gained points on them without playing them personally, was it last season?

Lemlin

Great improvement by Blackburn. I can honestly see United coming knocking for Hughes if he keeps going like this.

Necronomicon

PHB wrote:

Yeh, it makes sense to look at it this way, infact if anything it favours United so like, whats the problem?

This is the real problem for United, they have stepped up a gear, albeit a small one, and seem to be improving, but just can't do anythign to get near chelsea.
I'm trying to remmeber the last time we gained points on them without playing them personally, was it last season?

What about when Chelsea were held 1-1 with Everton during the season? I can't remember who United were playing that weekend.

redspider

I forgot to add the table that shows the form of each club in the 11-20 games quarter of the season. This is below along with the 1st 10-games:

Club      1st ten          2nd ten	
Chelsea     28    Liverpool   28	
Wigan       22    Chelsea     27	
Charlton    19    Man U       26	
Tottenham   19    Tottenham   18	
Man U       18    Arsenal     17	
Arsenal     17    Blackburn   16	
Bolton      17    Bolton      16	
Man C       17    Newcastle   14	
Liverpool   16    Aston Villa 13	
West Ham    15    Everton     13	
Blackburn   14    Wigan       12	
Middlesboro 12    Fulham      11	
Newcastle   12    Man C       11	
Aston Villa  9    West Brom   11	
Fulham       9    West Ham    11	
West Brom    8    Birmingham  10	
Everton      7    Middlesboro 10	
Portsmouth   7    Portsmouth  10	
Birmingham   6    Charlton     9	
Sunderland   5    Sunderland   1

Liverpool's good run is clear to see and its hard to believe that they pipped Chelsea. Their poor start is costing them a chance of a run at the title but they are in a solid position for a top-4 finish and are challenging for 2nd.

There is a large gulf between the top-3 and Spurs and Arsenal.

Notable changes in performance include that of Wigan, who were affected by their very challenging fixtures, Charlton who have gone into a slide, Man U and Liverpool who are now running at a similar pace to Chelsea, Man C who have slowed, Everton who have sped up, and of course Sunderland who have imploded with a mere single point.


The 20-game stage is near the half-way point and is a good indicator of where teams will end up. Apart from Chelsea being near-certain winners and Sunderland being near-certainly relegated, all the other slots have yet to be firmly decided, although both Man U and Liverpool are near certs for CL berths.


Btw, I forgot to post earlier in the season a graph showing the fortunes of the top clubs over the last few seasons. It puts the changes in fortunes of the clubs into perspective and how important CL qualification (and its money) can be (Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool). Arsenal/Henry FC, take note.

redspider