Looking ahead to another weekend of Premier League football, Gary Lemke rates Chelsea’s season, the downside of combined penalty kicks and more!
MAN UNITED TOP OF THE (WRONG) LOG
Anyone who has attended a football match in the UK live will know that it’s no place for the faint-hearted. Emotions get heated, opposition fans don’t hold back with their verbals – and more – and generally speaking the game is more of a religion than sport. Now, whether it’s because of less tolerance, or a society that has become more “woke”, statistics show that the 2022/23 season saw the highest number of fans arrests ever. A total of 2264 fans were arrested, which “beat” the previous high of 2198 in 2021/22, which in turn was the highest since 2013/14. Men accounted for 99.6% of the arrests, with 70% being aged between 18 and 34. The clubs with the most offenders were: Man United (69), Millwall (69), Leicester (56), Birmingham City (54), West Ham (52).
Footballrelated arrests reach a new high as the Home Office reveals 2264 fans were arrested last seasonwith West Ham Man United and Leeds supporters being the worst offenders #TransferNews #Mercato #soccerNews https://t.co/NBnNTj53ox
— MercatoTribune EN (@MercatoTrib_EN) September 28, 2023
CHELSEA STILL IN 2023 FREEFALL
A few weeks ago we highlighted a calculation of what an English Premier League log would look like if it was based only on 2023 results. Obviously, there are 17 teams, given three were relegated and three were promoted. It made for uncomfortable viewing for Chelsea fans. It has got worse, following home defeats to Forest and Villa and an away draw with Bournemouth. They’re now joint bottom with Everton. And, Chelsea have played m ore games (29) than any other team. The full 2023 table, with points in brackets, is: 1 Man City (71), 2 Arsenal (55), 3 Liverpool (55), 4 Aston Villa (55), 5 Brighton (53), 6 Man United (52), 7 Newcastle (46), 8 Tottenham (44), 9 Brentford (42), 10 West Ham (36), 11 Fulham (35), 12 Nottm Forest (32), 13 Wolves (32), 14 Crystal Palace (31), 15 Bournemouth (26), 16 Chelsea (25), 17 Everton (25).
🔵📊 Chelsea in Premier League 2023:
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 24, 2023
◉ 13 defeats
◉ 9 draws
◉ 5 wins
🇪🇸 Under Mauricio Pochettino:
◉ 3 defeats
◉ 2 draws
◉ 1 win
“We need to accept it’s a project”, Poch said ahead of Aston Villa game. pic.twitter.com/DudryZS5Oe
RUBBING SALT INTO RAW WOUNDS
Last word about Chelsea, for now, I promise. As a committed fan, believe me, it’s not easy going through this process. However, as we turn the calendar over into October, here’s further evidence of what their Achilles’ heel is. Simply put, they have a goal-scoring jinx. When Nicolas Jackson was signed, the Senegalese was said to be a young Didier Drogba and there was much excitement. He now has one EPL goal in five matches, and five yellow cards, which has led to a suspension. Chelsea, who play Fulham on Monday night, have scored five League goals in their first six games – three of which came against Luton. And the last damning stat: Chelsea were the only side to not score a League goal in the entire month of September.
ICARDI PAYS THE PENALTY
A leading coach once told me, “a footballer doesn’t have to be thick, but it helps”. Which brings me to Mauro Icardi. The Argentinian and Galatasaray teammate Karem Akturkoglu combined for a dreadful penalty miss, this time when scores were 0-0 against Istanbulspor in the Turkish Super Lig this week. Akturkoglu took the penalty by passing it to the rushing Icardi and, with the keeper having dived the wrong way, he missed the target. Why do penalty-takers behave like that? It has been attempted in the EPL as well, when Thierry Henry and Robert Pires “combined” to do the same thing for Arsenal against Man City in 2005. They also botched the attempt. The “exchange passes routine” was first introduced by Ajax pair Johann Cruyff and Jesper Olsen in 1982, while Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez combined for Barcelona against Celta Vigo in 2016.
This miss from Mauro Icardi is wild... 🤯
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) September 26, 2023
🎥 @beINSPORTS_TRpic.twitter.com/Vngh5BowRF
WHILE 1-0 RULES, 3-1 IS A SURPRISE
Ahead of this week’s round of EPL fixtures, a refresher of the most common scorelines so far. The 1-0 result, the most frequent last season with 70, has already come home 13 times, but it’s the 3-1 scoreline (also 13 times) which is surprising. The entire last season there were only 24 such results. Perhaps most surprising is the 2-0 scoreline. It is currently the seventh most common, having been the third most common last season, behind 1-0 and 2-1. So, expect it to be making its way up the list.
