Man Utd 19th in ‘table v top half’ and seven other findings from F365’s new tables…
Man Utd have been better than Liverpool since Erik ten Hag took charge, Chelsea are the worst Premier League team in 2023 and Brentford create far more Big Chances than Arsenal.
They’re just some of our takeaways as we perused our nifty new tables. There are 24 different tables to look at, with home or away options, useful averages in some cases, dating back to when football began in 1992.
Anyway, have a play around with it if you fancy losing an hour or two, and we’re sure you’ll find even more interesting stuff than these eight take-aways…
Chelsea 15th in calendar year table
36 games, 36 points. Only Everton and Bournemouth of the 17 teams to have played in the Premier League for the whole of this year have fewer points and they’ve each got 35 after 34. So on a Points Per Game basis, Chelsea are the worst of the lot.
Only Manchester City (82) have more points than Aston Villa in 2023, with Unai Emery’s side tied on 71 with Arsenal.
Man Utd above Liverpool since Erik ten Hag took charge
A particularly nifty function is the ability to select a Premier League table between any two dates. And the attention of the Manchester United doom-mongers should perhaps be drawn to the table since Erik ten Hag took charge at the start of last season.
Their 99 points in 51 games is well short of City (118) and Arsenal (111), but sees them in third place above Liverpool (95). Not bad.
Manchester City eighth in second-half table
If games were based purely on the second 45 minutes, City would have won three fewer games and would now be below Manchester United in the table.
If we go a step further – as we are wont to do given the option available – when we limit the table to away games alone, order is restored with City again top of the table.
Liverpool top of post-90min table
Liverpool have won four games in second-half stoppage time this season. The custom match period table might be our favourite of them all, by the way. For example, we bet you didn’t know Chelsea would be top of the table with 25 points if games lasted just the first 45 minutes, but drop to eighth when you include first-half stoppage time.
Man Utd 19th in table v top half
Only the 23 goals Burnley have conceded against top-half opponents saves Manchester United from finishing bottom, with the Red Devils earning zero points from four games against top-half opponents.
Them only playing four games against top half opponents is also an interesting takeaway and could be seen as a positive, in that they’ve not had much opportunity to pick up points – certainly compared to Burnley who have faced eight top-half teams.
But it of course also means that United have had a relatively easy start to the season; in fact the easiest of any team in the Premier League if this is the metric by which we’re judging it. Unsurprisingly, United are top of the table v bottom half, winning eight of their nine games against the lesser teams.
Arsenal, Spurs and Crystal Palace have had the next easiest runs, with just five top-half opponents for them thus far.
Burnley 19th in table when scoring first
It’s no surprise that Burnley are so low, they’re 20th in the actual table, but it’s a real killer to have lost four of six games they’ve taken the lead in. Only nine Premier League teams have led in more games this season.
Brentford fourth in Big Chances created
If you happened to catch Thomas Frank’s appearance on Monday Night Football, as he explained how he encourages his players not to attempt to score from low-percentage opportunities, this may not come as a huge surprise, but perhaps Arsenal being 12th will. Mikel Arteta’s side have created just 19 Big Chances in 13 games compared to Brentford’s 30.
Last season Arsenal averaged 1.92 Big Chances per game, compared to 1.46 this term.
Arsenal top of corners won table
Not particularly interesting at first glance, but 114 corners in 13 games sounds like a hell of a lot, and that suspicion is confirmed by them winning 25 more than next best Manchester City, with that differential covering the next 11 best in the division.