Archive for January 2009
Liverpool slips to third after draw
The draw against Wigan was Liverpool's ninth draw of the season and with that draw Liverpool has the highest number of draws in the league at the moment.
One statistic going for Liverpool is that it is the only team to have lost just once in the league and that loss was away to Tottenham Hotspurs but it is the draws that has made the Anfield outfit now slip to third in the premiership.
Below is the table showing the number of draws for each team so far after 23 rounds.
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 23 | 5 | 9 |
| Fulham | 21 | 4 | 8 |
| Newcastle | 23 | 11 | 8 |
| Blackburn | 22 | 8 | 7 |
| Everton | 23 | 8 | 7 |
| Arsenal | 23 | 10 | 6 |
| Chelsea | 23 | 5 | 6 |
| Hull City | 23 | 10 | 6 |
| Middlesbrough | 23 | 5 | 6 |
| Portsmouth | 22 | 5 | 6 |
| Stoke City | 23 | 3 | 6 |
| Tottenham | 23 | 6 | 6 |
| Aston Villa | 23 | 2 | 5 |
| Manchester United | 22 | 3 | 5 |
| Sunderland | 23 | 3 | 5 |
| West Ham | 23 | 4 | 5 |
| Wigan | 23 | 4 | 5 |
| Manchester City | 22 | 7 | 4 |
| Bolton | 23 | 2 | 3 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 23 | 3 | 3 |
The next match for Liverpool will be at home against Chelsea which will be a fight for second place.
Hull lost again and at this moment the only team to have collected no points in the last six matches. Hull lost to West Ham who climbed to eighth position on the table and next face Arsenal.
There was no change in the teams in the relegation zone with the bottom three teams all losing.
West Bromwich Albion suffered their worst loss of the season losing 5-nil to Manchester United and its a result that promotes United's goal difference but with an equally negative effect on the Baggies.
The difference in points between the bottom team and the team in tenth position is sixth points.
delicious
digg
Minor premiership decided on goals
The goal difference for both teams was 12 and Adelaide needed to win by at least two clear goals to have a superior goal difference and so the 1-nil over the Central Coast Mariners was not enough.
The Queensland Roar finished third on 36 points because to finish second Adelaide had a to draw or lose.
Wellington Phoenix's defeat at the hands of Victory meant that the Mariners no longer needed to get a result for their match against Adelaide but a heavy defeat would have guaranteed Adelaide the minor premiership.
There was change in the bottom four with Sydney FC moving into fourth place after a 4-nil demolition of cellar dwellers Newcastle Jets.
After looking like they could get fourth place the Phoenix ended in sixth position but its a positive result for a team that finished bottom last season.
So here is the final ladder:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 21 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 38 |
| Adelaide United FC | 21 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 38 |
| Queensland Roar | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 36 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 28 |
| Sydney FC | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 26 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | -8 | 26 |
| Perth Glory | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | -13 | 22 |
| Newcastle Jets | 21 | 4 | 6 | 11 | -18 | 18 |
So in the finals Melbourne Victory will meet Adelaide and the Roar will meet the Mariners.
The winner in the Victory/Adelaide match will go straight to the Grand final but the loser will meet the winner between
Roar and the Mariners to the decide the other finalist.
Congestion at the bottom
Fulham in tenth position has 26 points whilst West Bromwich Albion in last position has 21 points.
It's not only that the Baggies are currently bottom with 21 points but there are four other teams on that same number of points and the teams are only separated by goal difference.
So at the moment it is statistically possible for a team at the bottom of the ladder to move to tenth position just after two wins.
So maybe we can look at an upside down table and get the get the bottom teams to the top as shown in table below:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Bromwich Albion | 22 | -17 | 21 |
| Stoke City | 22 | -16 | 21 |
| Middlesbrough | 22 | -15 | 21 |
| Blackburn | 21 | -11 | 21 |
| Tottenham | 22 | -6 | 21 |
| Sunderland | 22 | -9 | 23 |
| Newcastle | 22 | -9 | 23 |
| Bolton | 22 | -8 | 23 |
| Portsmouth | 21 | -12 | 24 |
| Manchester City | 21 | 9 | 25 |
| Fulham | 20 | 2 | 26 |
| Hull City | 22 | -13 | 27 |
| West Ham | 22 | -2 | 29 |
| Wigan | 22 | 2 | 31 |
| Everton | 22 | 4 | 36 |
| Arsenal | 22 | 13 | 41 |
| Aston Villa | 22 | 13 | 44 |
| Chelsea | 22 | 29 | 45 |
| Liverpool | 22 | 22 | 47 |
| Manchester United | 21 | 24 | 47 |
Round 22 also saw Manchester United take top spot from Liverpool after the Anfield team could only get a draw against rivals Everton.
That draw was Liverpool's eighth of the season and Liverpool joins Fulham and Newcastle United in having drawn eight times this season.
Five of those draws were at home whereas for Fulham and Newcastle they have had three and four respectively.
The only other team to have five draws at home so far is Aston Villa and interestingly those are Villa's only draws.
Three way fight for minor premiership
Victory's 3-nil win over the Central Coast Mariners keeps them in the hunt and are now second on goal difference.
Victory will need to win their last match to get the minor premiership and hope that if Adelaide wins it will win by a lesser margin or draw or lose.
Victory can still get the minor premiership if they lose provided Adelaide lose by a worse margin against the Mariners and the Roar fails to win again Perth Glory.
Adelaide play the Mariners away in their last match of the normal home and away series and by the time they play they will be knowing exactly what to do to overhaul Victory should Victory be on top.
Adelaide's draw with Wellington Phoenix in round 20 makes it harder for the Phoenix to claim fourth place and reach the finals for the first time.
Like in round 19 the Phoenix finished the match with 10 men but this time they did not concede a goal when playing with ten otherwise the season would have finished at the Westpac Stadium. The scoreline was one-all when Tim Brown was send off for a second bookable offence
The Roar's win over Sydney means the Roar can still win the minor premiership but they will require to win against Perth Glory and have both Adelaide and Victory lose their last round matches.
This week we will take a look at the away form after 20 rounds:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland Roar | 11 | 7 | 20 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 10 | -2 | 11 |
| Melbourne Victory | 10 | -3 | 11 |
| Sydney FC | 11 | -6 | 10 |
| Adelaide United FC | 9 | -6 | 9 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 9 | -11 | 7 |
| Newcastle Jets | 10 | -15 | 5 |
| Perth Glory | 10 | -14 | 4 |
Its not surprising that the Roar are on top in terms of the away ladder.
Interestingly Adelaide do not have a very good away record but they can improve when it matters when they play the Mariners.
Liverpool stutter as Man U shines
Liverpool's draw away to Stoke meant that Manchester United closed the points gap by two points after a win against currently second placed Chelsea.
Manchester United's win was crucial especially with two games in hand and should the Old Trafford side win the two matches in hand then they would be top of the ladder.
Liverpool's draw was the sixth and Liverpool is now the team with second highest number of draws in the league.
The draw was good enough to pull Stoke out of the relegation zone where it was replaced by Tottenham Hotspurs.
After a bright start when Harry Redknapp arrived, Spurs have looked very shacky lately losing to teams lower in the lower half of the table and its not surprising they are back in the relegation zone.
The table below shows the results for the last six matches and the worst performer has to be Middlesbrough after collecting two points from the last six matches:
| Team | Recent Form |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | WDDDWW |
| Aston Villa | WWWDWW |
| Blackburn | LLLWDD |
| Bolton | LLWLLL |
| Chelsea | WDDWDL |
| Everton | LWDWWW |
| Fulham | DDDWDD |
| Hull City | WDLLLL |
| Liverpool | WDDWWD |
| Manchester City | LDLLWD |
| Manchester United | WWDWWW |
| Middlesbrough | LDLLLD |
| Newcastle | DWWLLD |
| Portsmouth | WDLLLL |
| Stoke City | DDLLLD |
| Sunderland | LWWDLD |
| Tottenham | WDLDLL |
| West Bromwich Albion | DLWLWL |
| West Ham | LDLWWD |
| Wigan | WLWWWW |
Aston Villa maintained fourth place after beating local rivals West Bromwich Albion but Arsenal's home win against
Bolton meant that the gap between fourth and fifth remained three points.
Elsewhere Hull's slide dowm the ladder continued with a 2-nil away loss to Everton. Everton are themselves are
sitting comfortably in fifth place and now have a four point cushion.
Everton next play Liverpool away and a result in that match will be very important as they get a place in Europe next season.
Jets to finish bottom
Jets can only finish with a maximum of 21 points after losing away to table topping Adelaide United.
Central Coast Mariners lost its battle to stay third against Queensland Roar in a high scoring match where they lost 4-3. The Roar have a game in hand and if they were to win that match against Adelaide then would slip to second. Despite losing by an odd-goal to Sydney FC, the Wellington Phoenix is still in the run to reach the finals. They have a home match against Adelaide and an away match against Victory.
Adelaide's stay at the top has been underpinned by an excellent home form as shown by the home matches table below:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United FC | 10 | 17 | 25 |
| Melbourne Victory | 9 | 10 | 21 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 10 | 5 | 18 |
| Perth Glory | 10 | 3 | 18 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 10 | 6 | 17 |
| Sydney FC | 9 | 3 | 13 |
| Newcastle Jets | 9 | 0 | 10 |
| Queensland Roar | 8 | 0 | 10 |
Adelaide has only lost five points at home in ten matches but they have just one more match to play at home.
On the other hand the Roar has been sustained by its away form and so the postponed match between the Roar and Adelaide will should be an interesting encounter.
