If not for VAR, Arsenal would be top of the Premier League standings stats reveal, while Cristiano Ronaldo turns 40!
HEY BIG SPENDER! YES, YOU, BRIGHTON
Although we were bang on the button throughout January in terms of lowering transfer window expectations – the big ones are done in the off-season – now that we’re into February we can look at the 2024/25 spending as a whole.
Based on the last two transfer windows, there are a couple of mild shocks. For instance, Liverpool have outlaid £34.7m in the last two windows, which is the lowest of all English Premier League clubs. And they’re showing the benefits of a settled side no doubt, with the title looming into view.
The biggest spenders haven’t been Chelsea, nor even Man City. It’s Brighton, whose £231.4m is the most of any EPL club in the last two windows. Man United (£202.1m), Man City (£200.8m), Chelsea (£196.7m) and Aston Villa (£176.9m) are next.
STRIKERS JINX THAT FOLLOWS WEST HAM
When Evan Ferguson joined West Ham on loan from Brighton on deadline day, it marked the 54th different striker the Hammers have signed since 2010.
And when you look at an all-time club list of English Premier League scorers, headed by Michail Antonio’s (68) and Jarred Bowen (49) and with Carlton Cole (41) in fifth, you can see where a lot of their problems lie. One of those 54 strikers West Ham signed, in 2010 for a fee of £2.5-million, was our own Benni McCarthy.
In 11 League appearances he failed to score and returned home to Orlando Pirates.
WHERE DOES FOREST’S 7-0 WIN RANK?
When Nottingham Forest rebounded from a 5-0 defeat a week earlier to beat Brighton 7-0 it not only showed the unpredictability of the English Premier League, but it set the mark as the biggest win of this 2024/25 League season.
So, where does it slot in when it comes to EPL history (1992 onwards)? There are four 9-0 wins (Man United vs Ipswich, Leicester vs Southampton, Man United vs Southampton and Liverpool vs Bournemouth), six 8-0’s and a 9-1.
And then come the raft of 7-0’s. Last season’s biggest scoreline was trhe 8-0 when Newcastle won at Sheffield United.
HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, CR7
Cristiano Ronaldo is football’s GOAT, and if you don’t believe me just ask him. In an interview this week with a Spanish media outlet to celebrate his 40th birthday – which was on Wednesday – he wasn’t lacking confidence.
“I am the best player ever, I believe that. I’m fast, I’m strong, [I score] with my header, with the left, no one has ever been more complete than me. You may prefer Pele, Messi, Maradona, I understand and respect that.
If I finish on 920, 925 goals … it doesn’t matter to me at all. I am the best in history. Howard Webb (2010), Mark.” You have to admit that Ronaldo’s longevity is remarkable. Pele was 36 when he retired, Maradona was 37, Messi is 37, Zinedine Zidane was 33, Johan Cruyff 32.
For a 40-year-old to still be competitive – he’d surely still find a club at English Premier League level – certainly adds a different slant to the GOAT conversation.
RANKING THE REFS, AN OFFICIAL LIST
Criticising a referee has become a habit for armchair sports fans, some of whom might pull a muscle stretching over to reach another plate of chips, but the latest official world rankings for refs shows that that the best in the world is France’s Francois Lexeteir, whose 2024 assignments included the Euro final.
He is one of two French refs in the world’s top 10, the other being Clement Turpin at No4. Brazil have two representatives in the top 10, as does England – Michael Oliver (No5) and Anthony Taylor (No8). The rankings are official and compiled by the IFFHS.
Dating back to 1987, Pier-Luigi Colina was ranked No1 for six straight years (1998-2003), while two English refs have been No1 at year-end – Howard Webb (2010 and 2023) and Mark Clattenburg (2016).
IF NOT FOR VAR, ARSENAL WOULD BE TOP
Those who have a bias against the current side in the English Premier League and have renamed them LiVARpool will feel they’re vindicated following the latest analysis as to how the VAR system has affected clubs this League season.
Let’s just forget the decisions that have been overturned, rightly or wrongly, by VAR intervention and go back to if VAR didn’t exist, as was the case pre-2019/20.
Without the technology, Arsenal would be top of the table, leading by one point over Liverpool, with an eight-point gap to Nottingham Forest and then Bournemouth. The jury is still out as to whether VAR belongs, or not.
