Has it really become so difficult for home teams to win in the Premier League…?
We’re only three weeks into the Barclays Premier League… And already, the media are asking inane questions.
Six out of 29 fixtures (to date) have resulted in home wins in the Premier League this year. Typically, over the course of a full season, there would be 12 out of 29 home wins.
This has prompted the BBC flagship program Match of the Day (MotD2, broadcast on Sunday evenings) to ask whether it’s an indicator that it’s just too difficult to win at home nowadays.
An intriguing and bold question to ask… A quick review of the remaining 23 fixtures shows 13 have been away wins, with the remaining ten stalemates (either score-draw or goalless).
The theories proposed include the emphasis is on the home team to attack more, whilst the away teams typically setup to counterattack after soaking up pressure.
Delving deeper into the statistics, the home wins have come from:
MW1: Manchester United (vs Spurs)
MW1: Leicester City (vs Sunderland)
MW2: Swansea City (vs Newcastle United)
MW2: Manchester City (vs Chelsea)
MW2: Liverpool (vs Bournemouth)
MW3: Crystal Palace (vs Aston Villa)
Meanwhile, the away wins come from:
Crystal Palace (at Norwich City); Aston Villa (at Bournemouth); West Ham (at Arsenal); Liverpool (at Stoke City); Manchester City (at West Brom); Manchester United (at Aston Villa); Everton (at Southampton); Leicester (at West Ham); Norwich City (at Sunderland); Arsenal (at Crystal Palace); Bournemouth (at West Ham); Chelsea (at West Brom) and Manchester City (at Everton).
Five of those 13 games listed were won by the top four teams from last season. The only real, genuine surprises — with no disrespect meant to the other teams listed— are West Ham’s win at Arsenal and (ironically?!) Bournemouth’s win at West Ham.
I guess the point I’m making is… It’s far too early in the season to make any judgement on whether the Premier League has changed so drastically from last season, or even whether there are ‘worse players’ now than ever before as was briefly suggested by MotD2.
