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Archive for January 2010

AFCON final: Ghana vs Egypt

Sunday, 31st January 2010 7:09pm
The 2010 Africa Nations Cup final will see defending champions play World Cup bound Ghana.

Egypt has won the last two Cups and are still to lose in this tournament.

The Pharaohs are the highest scorers at the tournament having scored a total of 14 goals so far. This is more than double what any other team has scored in the tournament.

Of those 14 goals, nine of them have been scored in the second half.

Ghana on the other hand conceded three goals in their first match and those are the only three goals the team has conceded.

In that first match against Ivory Coast, the Black Stars scored in the second half and that was the only second half goal Ghana has scored in the tournament.

Ghana has been able to defend their leads for long periods because in every match where the team has won the single goal has been scored in the first half.

Both teams have kept three clean sheets. Ghana has conceded three goals and Egypt two.

So the final seems to be against two teams with good defences but it seems unlikely to go the penalties.

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Category: Nations Cup | Comments : 0

Sevilla faces Valencia challenge

Friday, 29th January 2010 6:01pm
Round 20 of the Spanish Primera Division will see Sevilla face the challenge from Valencia who are currently third on the La Liga table whilst the hosts are sixth.

A few weeks before Christmas Sevilla were themselves in third place and challenging the top two teams but a string of four consecutive losses have left them in sixth place.

Whilst Sevilla lost form, on the other hand Valencia picked up their form and have lost just once in their last six matches.

A win or a loss will not change Valencia's league position but a win will help close or maintain the gap between themselves and Real Madrid and Barcelona.

A win for Sevilla could see them rise as high as fourth and more importantly will reduce the gap with their opponents to just three points.

In their first meeting this season Valencia came 2-nil winners.

Here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:

	Valencia	Sevilla
Position	3	6
Played	19	19
Points	39	33
Drawn	6	3
Won	11	10
Lost	2	6
Goal difference	17	8
Clean sheets	8	7
Failed to score	3	4
Goals scored	35	29
Goals conceded	18	21
Ave. goals scored	1.8	1.5
Ave. goals conceded	0.9	1.1
Biggest win	Almeria 0 - 3 Valencia Valencia 4 - 1 Villarreal	Athletic Bilbao 0 - 4 Sevilla
Biggest loss	Getafe 3 - 1 Valencia	Barcelona 4 - 0 Sevilla
Score 3 or more	6	3
Concede 3 or more	2	1
Home matches
Played	9	10
Points	16	18
Drawn	4	3
Won	4	5
Lost	1	2
Goal difference	7	6
Goals scored	17	17
Goals conceded	10	11
Ave. goals scored	1.9	1.7
Ave. goals conceded	1.1	1.1
Away matches
Played	10	9
Points	23	15
Drawn	2	0
Won	7	5
Lost	1	4
Goal difference	10	2
Goals scored	18	12
Goals conceded	8	10
Ave. goals scored	1.8	1.3
Ave. goals conceded	0.8	1.1

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Category: La Liga | Comments : 0

Third vs second : Arsenal vs Man Utd

Friday, 29th January 2010 5:48pm
In round 24 of the English Premier League, its third versus second as Arsenal hosts Manchester United at the Emirates.

In their first fixture earlier in the season, Arsenal lost 2-1 and now has a chance to even things out at the Emirates with a win.

A win for the Gunners will see them leapfrog their opponents into second place and depending on the Chelsea result could land them top place.

The Gunners have only lost once at home this season and that was the loss to Chelsea.

Manchester United are currently second and are cruising well as they defend the title they won last season.

They have lost four times so far away from Old Trafford and drawn once and therefore look good to get a result that could leave them top of the ladder.

So here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:

Category	Arsenal	Man United
Rank	3	2
Played	23	23
Points	49	50
Drawn	4	2
Won	15	16
Lost	4	5
Goal difference	34	34
Clean sheets	8	10
Failed to score	3	5
Goals scored	59	53
Goals conceded	25	19
Ave. goals scored	2.6	2.3
Ave. goals conceded	1.1	0.8
Biggest win	Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal	Wigan 0 - 5 Man United Man United 5 - 0 Wigan
Biggest loss	Arsenal 0 - 3 Chelsea	Fulham 3 - 0 Man United
Score 3 or more	11	11
Concede 3 or more	2	2
Home matches
Played	11	12
Points	28	31
Drawn	1	1
Won	9	10
Lost	1	1
Goal difference	23	23
Goals scored	34	31
Goals conceded	11	8
Ave. goals scored	3.1	2.6
Ave. goals conceded	1.0	0.7
Away matches
Played	12	11
Points	21	19
Drawn	3	1
Won	6	6
Lost	3	4
Goal difference	11	11
Goals scored	25	22
Goals conceded	14	11
Ave. goals scored	2.1	2.0
Ave. goals conceded	1.2	1.0

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Category: English Premiership | Comments : 0

Ghana to meet Egypt in final

Friday, 29th January 2010 10:44am
Ghana will meet the defending champions Egypt in the final of the 2010 Africa Nations Cup in Angola after beating Nigeria by 1-nil.

Ghana who have played four matches so far have scored just one goal in each of those matches and they did the same against Nigeria to reach their first Nations Cup final in nearly 20 years.

Egypt on the other hand comprehensively defeated Algeria to reach their third successive Nations Cup final.

The Pharaohs had won their first five matches by a two goal margin and they reserved their highest winning margin so far for World Cup bound Algeria.

Its also the biggest winning margin by any team so far.(see table below)

Algeria and Nigeria will play out for the third place a day before the final which will be on Sunday local time in Luanda.

So far 68 goals have been scored in the tournament and its now very unlikely that the goals record reached in 2008 will be reached this time with just two matches to go.

The table below shows the goal margins so far in the tournament(note this does not consider penalty shootout margins):

Goal Margin	Frequency
0	8
1	9
2	7
3	2
4	1

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Category: Nations Cup | Comments : 0

Everton's fine form continues

Friday, 29th January 2010 5:06am
Everton continued to rise up the English Premiership table after beating Sunderland 2-nil at Goodison Park in the midweek round 23.

Everton started the season badly and was at one time in the relegation zone but recent good form has seen the team catapult to ninth on the table.

Everton's last loss was a 2-nil loss to Liverpool but since then the team has been unbeaten.

Round 23 also saw Birmingham run of 12 unbeaten matches come to an end after losing 3-nil to Chelsea.

Before that Birmingham's last loss in the league was against Arsenal in October 2009.

The Chelsea win saw the team regain top position on the ladder with Manchester United and Arsenal in second and third spots respectively.

Burnley dropped to the relegation zone after losing to Bolton 1-nil. The win took Bolton out of the relegation places.

However, Burnley can take heart in that there are three teams on 20 points and the goal difference between it and Wolverhampton in 17th place is just one.

So this time I will take a look at the second half scorelines and here they are:

Scoreline	Frequency
0 - 0	39
0 - 1	32
0 - 2	9
0 - 3	4
0 - 5	1
1 - 0	41
1 - 1	28
1 - 2	6
1 - 3	2
2 - 0	26
2 - 1	9
2 - 2	4
2 - 3	1
3 - 0	10
3 - 1	1
3 - 2	3
4 - 0	2
4 - 2	1
8 - 1	1

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Category: English Premiership | Comments : 0

Mariners faces Glory test

Thursday, 28th January 2010 2:12pm
Its towards the end of the season and every match is now crucial as the Perth Glory hosts the Central Coast Mariners in round 25 of the A-League.

The Glory lie fifth on the table now and with just two matches to go after this match, a win for the Glory will mean that the Mariners will have a very slim chance of reaching this year's finals.

The Glory have never been involved in the finals and they have a very good chance this season and a win here will almost assure their maiden finals appearance.

The Mariners lead the pack of teams just outside the finals places and a win for the Gosford based team is just as important and lose this match and the finals dream is nearly over.

Against the Glory the Mariners face a team that has lost just once at home this season whilst the Mariners have lost six on the road.

So here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season.:

	Central Coast Mariners	Perth Glory
Streak	LLLDDD	WLWDLW
Played	24	24
Points	27	33
Drawn	9	6
Won	6	9
Lost	9	9
Goal difference	5	3
Clean sheets	8	8
Failed to score	10	5
Goals scored	28	33
Goals conceded	23	30
Ave. goals scored	1.2	1.4
Ave. goals conceded	1.0	1.3
Biggest win	Melbourne Victory 0 - 4 Central Coast Mariners NQ Fury 1 - 5 Central Coast Mariners	Perth Glory 4 - 0 Newcastle Jets
Biggest loss	Central Coast Mariners 0 - 3 Melbourne Victory	Melbourne Victory 6 - 2 Perth Glory
Score 3 or more	4	3
Concede 3 or more	2	1
Home matches
Played	12	11
Points	13	22
Drawn	7	4
Won	2	6
Lost	3	1
Goal difference	-2	11
Goals scored	11	18
Goals conceded	13	7
Ave. goals scored	0.9	1.6
Ave. goals conceded	1.1	0.6
Away matches
Played	12	13
Points	14	11
Drawn	2	2
Won	4	3
Lost	6	8
Goal difference	7	-8
Goals scored	17	15
Goals conceded	10	23
Ave. goals scored	1.4	1.2
Ave. goals conceded	0.8	1.8

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Category: A-League | Comments : 0

Africa Nations semis: Algeria vs Egypt

Thursday, 28th January 2010 1:08pm
The 2010 World Cup bound Algeria will face the reigning African champions Egypt in the Africa Nations Cup being hosted by Angola.

Algeria last played their North African rivals in a one-off play-off to decide who went to the World Cup and Algeria triumphed that time.

Egypt are still to lose a match in this tournament and they have scored a minimum two goals in each match.

Egypt have also been winning by a two goal margin in each match so far and so Algeria will have their work cut out.

Algeria on the other hand started the tournament with a 3-nill loss to Malawi but have since won two and drawn one including the crucial win over Ivory Coast in the quarters.

So here are some of the stats for the group matches played at this tournament:

	Egypt	Algeria
Played	3	3
Points	9	4
Drawn	0	1
Won	3	1
Lost	0	1
Goal difference	6	-2
Clean sheets	2	2
Failed to score	0	2
Goals scored	7	1
Goals conceded	1	3
Ave. goals scored	2.3	0.3
Ave. goals conceded	0.3	1.0
Biggest win	Egypt 3 - 1 Nigeria Egypt 2 - 0 Mozambique Egypt 2 - 0 Benin Egypt 3 - 1 Cameroon	Mali 0 - 1 Algeria Ivory Coast 2 - 3 Algeria
Biggest loss	No loss	Malawi 3 - 0 Algeria
Score 3 or more	2	1
Concede 3 or more	0	1
Home matches
Played	3
Points	9
Drawn	0
Won	3
Lost	0
Goal difference	6
Goals scored	7
Goals conceded	1
Ave. goals scored	2.3
Ave. goals conceded	0.3
Away matches
Played	3
Points	4
Drawn	1
Won	1
Lost	1
Goal difference	-2
Goals scored	1
Goals conceded	3
Ave. goals scored	0.3
Ave. goals conceded	1.0

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Category: Nations Cup | Comments : 0

Africa Nations semis - Ghana vs Nigeria

Thursday, 28th January 2010 12:53pm
Ghana will meet Nigeria in the semi-finals of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola in the West African battle to decide who will reach the final.

The winner of the Ghana/Nigeria match will meet the winner in the other semi featuring the North African giants Algeria and Egypt.

Ghana has played three matches so far as a result of Togo withdrawing from the competition. Of those of three matches the team has won two of them by a scoreline of 1-nil with the other match being a 3-1 loss to Ivory Coast.

On the other hand Nigeria has played four matches winning two and losing one. The other match was drawn after extra time but Nigeria won on penalties.

So here is some of the stats for the group matches for the two teams:

	Nigeria	Ghana
Played	3	2
Points	6	3
Drawn	0	0
Won	2	1
Lost	1	1
Goal difference	2	-1
Clean sheets	3	2
Failed to score	1	0
Goals scored	5	2
Goals conceded	3	3
Ave. goals scored	1.7	1.0
Ave. goals conceded	1.0	1.5
Biggest win	Nigeria 3 - 0 Mozambique	Burkina 0 - 1 Ghana Angola 0 - 1 Ghana
Biggest loss	Egypt 3 - 1 Nigeria	Ivory Coast 3 - 1 Ghana
Score 3 or more	1	0
Concede 3 or more	1	1
Home matches
Played	2
Points	6
Drawn	0
Won	2
Lost	0
Goal difference	4
Goals scored	4
Goals conceded	0
Ave. goals scored	2.0
Ave. goals conceded	0.0
Away matches
Played	1	2
Points	0	3
Drawn	0	0
Won	0	1
Lost	1	1
Goal difference	-2	-1
Goals scored	1	2
Goals conceded	3	3
Ave. goals scored	1.0	1.0
Ave. goals conceded	3.0	1.5

Previous Matches

Season	Round	Team	Goals	Team	Goals
2007/8	4	Ghana	2	Nigeria	1

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Category: Nations Cup | Comments : 0

Coyle faces old team

Tuesday, 26th January 2010 10:37pm
Round 25 of the English Premiership is a midweek round and Owen Coyle will face his old team Burnley looking for his first win as manager of Bolton.

Coyle has been in charge of his new team for just two league matches and both matches were lost against Arsenal.

Burnley has failed to score in its last two matches against Everton and Manchester United and so will be looking forward to scoring in this match.

This will be the third away match in a row for the team with the poorest away record in the league.

So here is the stats for the two teams so far:

	Bolton	Burnley
Streak	DWDDLL	DDLDLL
Played	20	21
Points	18	20
Drawn	6	5
Won	4	5
Lost	10	11
Goal difference	-14	-21
Clean sheets	0	3
Failed to score	5	8
Goals scored	28	22
Goals conceded	42	43
Ave. goals scored	1.4	1.0
Ave. goals conceded	2.1	2.0
Biggest win	Bolton 3 - 1 West Ham	Burnley 3 - 1 Sunderland Burnley 2 - 0 Hull
Biggest loss	Bolton 0 - 4 Chelsea Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton	Tottenham 5 - 0 Burnley
Score 3 or more	4	3
Concede 3 or more	5	8
Home matches
Played	11	10
Points	10	19
Drawn	4	4
Won	2	5
Lost	5	1
Goal difference	-7	5
Goals scored	16	14
Goals conceded	23	9
Ave. goals scored	1.5	1.4
Ave. goals conceded	2.1	0.9
Away matches
Played	9	11
Points	8	1
Drawn	2	1
Won	2	0
Lost	5	10
Goal difference	-7	-26
Goals scored	12	8
Goals conceded	19	34
Ave. goals scored	1.3	0.7
Ave. goals conceded	2.1	3.1

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Category: English Premiership | Comments : 0

Nigeria beats Zambia to reach semis

Tuesday, 26th January 2010 2:39pm
Nigeria reached the semi-finals of the 2010 Africa Nations Cup after beating Zambia 5-4 on penalties.

The match finished goalless after extra-time and therefore penalties had to decide the winner.

In the earlier match Egypt once again triumphed over Cameroon scoring two goals in extra time to make a date with Algeria who overcame Ivory Coast.

Cameroon were the first score through an own goal but Egypt came back to score the next three goals in that match.

Algeria also won in extra time over the fancied Ivory Coast. The Elephants were leading 2-1 in the dying minutes of the match but Algeria equalized and in extra got the semis place.

Egypt last played Algeria in a World Cup deciding match and this could be a very explosive encounter.

Ghana dispatched the hosts Angola with a lone goal scored in the first goal. The Black Stars will meet the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a West African battle.

Continuing with the trend of showing scorelines for the Nations Cup this time I will show the first half scored so far:

Scoreline	Frequency
0 - 0	6
0 - 1	7
1 - 0	3
1 - 1	4
1 - 2	1
2 - 0	4

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Category: Nations Cup | Comments : 0

Tenerife holds Valencia's run

Tuesday, 26th January 2010 2:26pm
In La Liga's round 19, Tenerife managed a goalless draw against in-form Valencia.

Valencia was going for its fourth win in a row but relegation Tenerife managed to salvage a draw that gave it a valuable point and avoid the relegation places.

The bottom two teams both lost in round 19 with Real Zaragoza losing 4-2 to Villareal and Xerez at home losing 2-1 to Osasuna.

At the top, Barcelona continued with its winning run with a 3-nil over Valladolid. This was the third match in a row with Barcelona keeping a clean sheet. Out of 19 matches, Barca has kept 11 clean sheets in the league.

Real Madrid won 2-nil with two first half goals against Malaga. This was a welcome return to winning ways for Real after losing to Athletic Bilbao in the last round.

In the Madrid derby Atletico Madrid came short after losing 1-nil to Getafe.

Below is the current form table and its no surprise that Barcelona are at the top:

Team	P	W	D	L	For	A	GD	Pts	Streak
Barcelona	6	5	1	0	17	2	15	16	WWDWWW
Real Madrid	6	4	1	1	13	3	10	13	WWDWLW
R Santander	6	4	1	1	9	6	3	13	WLWWDW
Getafe	6	4	0	2	6	4	2	12	WWWLLW
Valencia	6	3	2	1	10	5	5	11	LDWWWD
Villarreal	6	3	2	1	11	9	2	11	WWDDLW
Atletico	6	3	1	2	11	7	4	10	LDWWWL
Mallorca	6	3	1	2	7	5	2	10	WLWLWD
Athletic Bilbao	6	3	1	2	7	7	0	10	WWLDWL
Deportivo La Coruña	6	2	3	1	5	4	1	9	DDDWLW
Málaga	6	2	3	1	7	7	0	9	DWDDWL
Espanyol	6	2	1	3	5	6	-1	7	LWLWLD
Osasuna	6	2	1	3	4	5	-1	7	LLDLWW
Almeria	6	1	3	2	4	6	-2	6	DLWDDL
Sevilla	6	2	0	4	5	10	-5	6	WLLLLW
Valladolid	6	1	2	3	4	11	-7	5	DWLLDL
Sporting Gijon	6	1	1	4	6	9	-3	4	LLDWLL
Tenerife	6	0	3	3	3	11	-8	3	LDLLDD
Zaragoza	6	0	2	4	4	14	-10	2	LLDLDL
Xerez	6	0	1	5	4	11	-7	1	LLLLDL

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Category: La Liga | Comments : 0

Sydney regains top spot

Monday, 25th January 2010 9:17am
Sydney FC regained the top spot on the A-League ladder after beating Newcastle Jets 3-1 in round 24 of the A-League.

The previous leaders the Gold Coast could only manage a one-all draw against the Central Coast Mariners and now trail the leaders by just one point as they currently lie third.

In second position at the moment is Melbourne Victory who beat bottom club Adelaide United 2- nil with a goal in each half.

There was a key win for Perth Glory who beat the Wellington Phoenix 2-nil at the ME Bank Stadium and that win means the Perth side now sit in fifth place ahead of the Phoenix by two points.

The Phoenix have a game in hand against Victory and after that match is played on Australia Day it will become very clear where they stand with Glory but they look set for the finals.

The team in seventh position - Mariners are four points adrift which means after round 25 the the teams in the first six places will still be in those top six places.

The Queensland battle between North Queensland Fury and Brisbane Roar finished one-all and the two teams still have a slim chance to make it to the finals.

This week I will take a look at the first half scorelines so far this season and here they are:

Scoreline	Frequency
0 - 0	33
0 - 1	18
0 - 2	5
0 - 3	1
1 - 0	30
1 - 1	14
1 - 2	2
1 - 3	1
2 - 0	6
2 - 1	4
2 - 2	2
3 - 0	2
4 - 1	1

So its not surprising to see that going into half-time the most popular scoreline is a goalless draw. However, of the 33 matches that went into the break goalless only seven finished that way.

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Category: A-League | Comments : 0

Cameroon squeezes into quarters

Friday, 22nd January 2010 5:55pm
Cameroon just managed to reach the quarter-finals at the expense of Gabon after three teams in Group D finished with four points.

The Africa Nations Cup uses head-to-head when teams are tied on points and because they were three teams involved the matches between those teams had to considered.

Cameroon had earlier lost to Gabon and so had the head-to-head been between the two teams Gabon would have reached the quarter-finals instead.

Here is what the table used for the Group D head-to-head looks like:

Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	GD	Pts
Zambia	2	1	0	1	4	4	0	3
Cameroon	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
Gabon	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3

Elsewhere in Group A, hosts Angola won the group and will now play Ghana to decide who reaches the semis. Ghana beat Burkina Faso 1-nil to reach the quarters.

Ivory Coast who were the first team to reach the quarters will play Algeria after the Algerians secured their place through the goalless draw against the hosts.

Defending champions Egypt will face Cameroon after going through their group with a perfect record.

Zambia will play Nigeria after the Super Eagles dispatched Mozambique 3-nil to secure second place in Group C.

Here is an update of the scorelines so far in the 2010 Africa Nations Cup:

Scoreline	Frequency
0 - 0	3
0 - 1	3
1 - 0	1
1 - 1	1
1 - 2	1
2 - 0	3
2 - 2	2
3 - 0	2
3 - 1	3
3 - 2	1
4 - 4	1

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Category: Nations Cup | Comments : 3

Derby day as Getafe face Atletico

Friday, 22nd January 2010 5:37pm
Its another derby in Madrid this weekend with Getafe facing the in-form Atletico Madrid in round 19 of the Spanish La Liga.

Getafe and Atletico are just separated by four points with Getafe on top and that is because Atletico had a bad start to the season.

However, in the last few weeks Atletico has found its feet again and now lies third on the form table with 13 points from the last six matches. This is the same number of points as Real Madrid over that period.

Getafe on the other hand has won three matches out of the last six and more importantly it has lost the last two matches to Sporting Gijon and Malaga. Both losses were 1-nil away losses.

The other loss from the last six was also an away match to Villareal but this week Getafe is home.

Here are some of the stats for the two teams as they enter derby day:

Category	Atletico	Getafe
Form	WLDWWW	LWWWLL
Played	18	18
Points	23	27
Drawn	5	0
Won	6	9
Lost	7	9
Goal difference	0	2
Clean sheets	3	3
Failed to score	3	7
Goals scored	30	26
Goals conceded	30	24
Ave. goals scored	1.7	1.4
Ave. goals conceded	1.7	1.3
Biggest win	Atletico 4 - 0 Espanyol Valladolid 0 - 4 Atletico	Getafe 5 - 1 Xerez
Biggest loss	Málaga 3 - 0 Atletico Barcelona 5 - 2 Atletico Osasuna 3 - 0 Atletico	Zaragoza 3 - 0 Getafe
Score 3 or more	3	3
Concede 3 or more	4	3
Home matches
Played	9	8
Points	15	18
Drawn	3	0
Won	4	6
Lost	2	2
Goal difference	5	7
Goals scored	18	15
Goals conceded	13	8
Ave. goals scored	2.0	1.9
Ave. goals conceded	1.4	1.0
Away matches
Played	9	10
Points	8	9
Drawn	2	0
Won	2	3
Lost	5	7
Goal difference	-5	-5
Goals scored	12	11
Goals conceded	17	16
Ave. goals scored	1.3	1.1
Ave. goals conceded	1.9	1.6

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Category: La Liga | Comments : 0

Queensland battle: Fury vs Roar

Wednesday, 20th January 2010 3:35pm
North Queensland Fury and Brisbane Roar are separated by just one point on the table and the two teams meet in round 24 of the A-League.

A win for the home team will see them leapfrog their opponents but the highest position they can attain is seventh, just outside the finals places.

Similarly the highest position the Roar will get to if they win would be seventh and a loss could see either team anchor the table or be second from the bottom.

Fury has had better form over the last six matches collecting seven points whilst the Roar who have lost their last three matches have accumulated six points.

In their previous matches the Fury drew its home match whilst the Roar won the match at Suncorp.

So here is the stats for the two teams so far this season:

	Brisbane Roar	NQ Fury
Streak	LWWLLL	WLLWDL
Played	23	23
Points	26	25
Drawn	5	7
Won	7	6
Lost	11	10
Goal difference	-7	-17
Clean sheets	5	4
Failed to score	5	6
Goals scored	30	24
Goals conceded	37	41
Ave. goals scored	1.3	1.0
Ave. goals conceded	1.6	1.8
Biggest win	Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar 4 - 1 Wellington Phoenix	Gold Coast 0 - 2 NQ Fury
Biggest loss	Gold Coast 5 - 1 Brisbane Roar	Gold Coast 5 - 0 NQ Fury
Score 3 or more	4	1
Concede 3 or more	6	7
Home matches
Played	13	10
Points	14	14
Drawn	2	2
Won	4	4
Lost	7	4
Goal difference	-5	-4
Goals scored	13	11
Goals conceded	18	15
Ave. goals scored	1.0	1.1
Ave. goals conceded	1.4	1.5
Away matches
Played	10	13
Points	12	11
Drawn	3	5
Won	3	2
Lost	4	6
Goal difference	-2	-13
Goals scored	17	13
Goals conceded	19	26
Ave. goals scored	1.7	1.0
Ave. goals conceded	1.9	2.0

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Category: A-League | Comments : 0

Zaragoza, Xerez in stalemate

Tuesday, 19th January 2010 5:36am
The two bottom clubs in La Liga could only draw in round 18 of La Liga after Real Zaragoza and Xerez played out a goalless draw.

Zaragoza and Xerez are separated by six points and this was a real chance for Xerez to close that gap but the draw meant the spoils were shared and the gap remained six points.

The other team in the relegation zone Tenerife also a managed a one-all draw against Almeria and so stays two points ahead of Zaragoza.

At the top of the table, Barcelona has increased its lead at the top to five points following its 4-nil thrashing of Sevilla and Real Madrid's loss to Athletic Bilbao.

The Barca match was goalless going into half time but after the break Barca scored four to be just four goals shy of a half century of goals this season.

Valencia increased its grip on third place after a 4-1 win over Villareal. Valencia is now just three points behind Real Madrid and five points ahead of Mallorca in fourth.

. After the last round I took at look at the winning trends in La Liga and this week I will take a look at the drawing trends:

Trend	Frequency	Percentage
Draw at half time, draw at full time	31	68.9
Home team leading at half time, draw at full time	9	20.0
Away team leading at half time, draw at full time	5	11.1
Drawn matches	45	25.0

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Cameroon back on track

Tuesday, 19th January 2010 5:01am
Cameroon is now back on track after beating Zambia 3-2 in its second match in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.

Cameroon lost its first match in the tournament to Gabon and needed to get something out of the Zambian match in order to stay in the competition beyond the group stages. Now th team needs at least a draw in its final match against Tunisia to reach the knockout phase.

Also in the second round of matches in Group A Angola and Algeria recorded wins whilst in Group B Ivory Coast reached the knockout phase after beating Ghana.

Ghana will need to Burkina Faso in its second match to join Ivory Coast whilst a draw will be good enough for Burkina Faso.

In Group C, Nigeria had a narrow win over Gabon whilst Egypt reached the quarters after beating Mozambique.

Like at the end of the last round I will also show a table with the updated scorelines from the Africa Nations Cup following the second round of matches and here it is:

Scoreline	Frequency
0 - 0	2
0 - 1	2
1 - 0	1
1 - 1	1
2 - 0	2
2 - 2	1
3 - 0	1
3 - 1	2
3 - 2	1
4 - 4	1

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Villa fails to score again

Monday, 18th January 2010 8:45pm
Aston Villa failed to score in the league for the third match in a row following a goalless draw against West Ham in round 22 of the English Premiership.

Villa last scored in the league in the 1-nil win against Stoke City. Interestingly that 1-nil win was their fourth clean sheet in a row.

After that match they have since played Arsenal, Liverpool and now West Ham and failed to score a single goal.

But in the same round goals were not a problem at Stamford Bridge where beat Sunderland 7-2. Chelsea were actually 4 goals up at half time and therefore became the first team to score four goals in the first half this season.

Arsenal had an important win over Bolton winning 2-nil at the Reebok. The two teams play each other again in midweek.

That win means Arsenal will go top if they win by more than two goals at the Emirates.

Manchester United stayed in the chase with a 3-nil win over Burnley. All the goals were scored in the second half.

Portsmouth were out of action after their match was the only match postponed in this round. Pompey were due to play in-form Birmingham City.

Following Chelsea's 4-nil half-time score, this week I will show a table showing the rest of the half-time scores so far this season:

Scoreline	Frequency
0 - 0	53
0 - 1	34
0 - 2	5
0 - 3	2
1 - 0	56
1 - 1	20
1 - 2	5
1 - 3	1
2 - 0	14
2 - 1	6
2 - 2	3
3 - 0	5
3 - 1	1
3 - 2	3
4 - 0	1

Its interesting to see that the goalless draw is not the most popular result going into half time but a 1-nil scoreline is.

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Gold Coast regains top spot

Monday, 18th January 2010 8:19pm
The Gold Coast United regained top position after beating title rivals Sydney FC in round 22 of the A-League.

This was the third match this season that the Gold Coast had beaten Sydney by a one goal margin. The first two matches finished 2-1 and 1-nil respectively but they were both at Skilled Stadium.

Melbourne Victory went back to winning ways after beating Perth Glory 6-2. Victory had lost their last two away matches and were slipping away from the top position and the big win was also good for goal difference which could be handy at the end of the season.

Elsewhere there were wins for Wellington Phoenix who beat North Queensland Fury and also Newcastle Jets who won away to the Brisbane Roar.

The only draw of the match was in the match between Adelaide United and the Central Coast Mariners. It was one all draw.

Adelaide still anchor the table and their next match will be a catch up round 19 match against Perth Glory.

After taking a look at the first half table last last week, this week I will show the second half table and here it is:

Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	GD	Pts
Melbourne Victory	22	10	9	3	20	9	11	39
Wellington Phoenix	22	8	9	5	20	12	8	33
Gold Coast	23	8	9	6	21	18	3	33
Sydney	23	6	12	5	13	12	1	30
NQ Fury	23	7	9	7	16	22	-6	30
Newcastle Jets	23	7	8	8	14	16	-2	29
Perth Glory	22	6	10	6	15	16	-1	28
Central Coast Mariners	23	4	15	4	12	12	0	27
Brisbane Roar	23	5	8	10	14	22	-8	23
Adelaide Utd	22	3	9	10	10	16	-6	18

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Sevilla faces Barca challenge

Saturday, 16th January 2010 7:52am
Barcelona will play Sevilla in round 18 of La Liga after meeting the same team in a cup game in midweek. Barca the Copa del Roy match 1-nil.

Sevilla are on a poor run at the moment having lost their last three matches 2-1.

Before those three losses Sevilla had only lost twice in the league and were fourth on the table.

Barca are the form team with 16 points from their last six matches and scored 13 goals and conceded just two.

Depending on the other results a win for Sevilla will take them just one more place up whilst a loss could also drop see them drop one place.

A loss for Barca will mean losing top place if Real Madrid wins its match against Athletic Bilbao.

Here is some of the stats for Barcelona and Sevilla so far this season:

	Barcelona	Sevilla
Form	WWWWDW	DDWLLL
Played	17	17
Points	43	30
Drawn	4	3
Won	13	9
Lost	0	5
Goal difference	32	11
Clean sheets	9	6
Failed to score	1	3
Goals scored	42	28
Goals conceded	10	17
Ave. goals scored	2.5	1.6
Ave. goals conceded	0.6	1.0
Biggest win	Barcelona 6 - 1 Zaragoza Tenerife 0 - 5 Barcelona	Athletic Bilbao 0 - 4 Sevilla
Biggest loss	No loss	Valencia 2 - 0 Sevilla
Score 3 or more	7	3
Concede 3 or more	0	0
Home matches
Played	8	9
Points	22	15
Drawn	1	3
Won	7	4
Lost	0	2
Goal difference	16	5
Goals scored	22	16
Goals conceded	6	11
Ave. goals scored	2.8	1.8
Ave. goals conceded	0.8	1.2
Away matches
Played	9	8
Points	21	15
Drawn	3	0
Won	6	5
Lost	0	3
Goal difference	16	6
Goals scored	20	12
Goals conceded	4	6
Ave. goals scored	2.2	1.5
Ave. goals conceded	0.4	0.8

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EPL: Everton vs Man City

Thursday, 14th January 2010 11:38pm
Manchester City's resurgent form will be fully tested against Everton at Goodison Park in round 22 of the English Premiership.

Both clubs were involved in clashes in round 21 where only three matches were possible and Everton drew Arsenal whilst City won against Blackburn.

The match against Everton will probably be new City manager Roberto Mancini's first serious test and he will know that a win will help cement fourth place.

Everton are currently 12th on the table but they haven't lost a match in their last six matches but they have only won once.

On the other hand City has lost once, drawn once and won the rest in their last six matches and therefore will be looking to extending that winning run.

Here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:

	Man City	Everton
Streak	DLWWWW	DDDDWD
Played	20	20
Points	38	23
Drawn	8	8
Won	10	5
Lost	2	7
Goal difference	14	-6
Clean sheets	6	3
Failed to score	2	3
Goals scored	42	28
Goals conceded	28	34
Ave. goals scored	2.1	1.4
Ave. goals conceded	1.4	1.7
Biggest win	Wolves 0 - 3 Man City Man City 4 - 1 Blackburn	Everton 3 - 0 Blackburn
Biggest loss	Tottenham 3 - 0 Man City	Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal
Score 3 or more	8	2
Concede 3 or more	5	5
Home matches
Played	10	10
Points	24	14
Drawn	3	5
Won	7	3
Lost	0	2
Goal difference	12	-1
Goals scored	26	14
Goals conceded	14	15
Ave. goals scored	2.6	1.4
Ave. goals conceded	1.4	1.5
Away matches
Played	10	10
Points	14	9
Drawn	5	3
Won	3	2
Lost	2	5
Goal difference	2	-5
Goals scored	16	14
Goals conceded	14	19
Ave. goals scored	1.6	1.4
Ave. goals conceded	1.4	1.9

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Roar chance against Jets

Thursday, 14th January 2010 11:24pm
Brisbane Roar will meet Newcastle Jets in round 23 of the A-League after losing their last two matches. Both matches were away.

The Roar were on a good run until they lost the Gold Coast United and this could be a chance to go back on track.

The Jets were also on a very good run but they have lost their last two away matches. They lost 4-nil to Perth Glory and then in the last round 2-nil to Gold Coast.

The match against the Roar gives them a chance to reverse those away losses.

Jets are currently fourth and a win will help them cement fourth place whilst the Roar are seventh and a win could see them in fifth position on the table.

Here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:

	Newcastle Jets	Brisbane Roar
Rank	4	7
Played	22	22
Points	31	26
Drawn	4	5
Won	9	7
Lost	9	10
Goal difference	-7	-5
Clean sheets	3	5
Failed to score	7	4
Goals scored	28	30
Goals conceded	35	35
Ave. goals scored	1.3	1.4
Ave. goals conceded	1.6	1.6
Biggest win	Newcastle Jets 2 - 0 NQ Fury Sydney 1 - 3 Newcastle Jets Adelaide Utd 0 - 2 Newcastle Jets	Newcastle Jets 0 - 3 Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar 4 - 1 Wellington Phoenix
Biggest loss	Perth Glory 4 - 0 Newcastle Jets	Gold Coast 5 - 1 Brisbane Roar
Score 3 or more	5	4
Concede 3 or more	4	6
Home matches
Played	11	12
Points	21	14
Drawn	0	2
Won	7	4
Lost	4	6
Goal difference	1	-3
Goals scored	18	13
Goals conceded	17	16
Ave. goals scored	1.6	1.1
Ave. goals conceded	1.5	1.3
Away matches
Played	11	10
Points	10	12
Drawn	4	3
Won	2	3
Lost	5	4
Goal difference	-8	-2
Goals scored	10	17
Goals conceded	18	19
Ave. goals scored	0.9	1.7
Ave. goals conceded	1.6	1.9

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World Cup bound teams struggle in Angola

Thursday, 14th January 2010 12:34pm
The first round of group games in the 2010 Africa Nations Cup has been completed and none of the 2010 World Cup bound African teams managed a win.

The four World Cup teams that had matches all failed to win with Ivory Coast only managing a draw a goalless draw against Burkina Faso.

Nigeria was the first to score in its match against Egypt but lost the match 3-1 in the end. The other three teams all failed to score.

Cameroon was stunned by Gabon who scored a first half goal and defended it to the end of the match.

The worst result was for Algeria who lost 3-nil to Malawi. Algeria was the only team to lose by a three goal margin in this first round of matches.

Ghana, the fifth World Cup bound African team was not involved in this round of matches after its match against Togo was cancelled following Togo's disqualification from the competition.

Its therefore not surprising that Groups A, C and D are anchored by Algeria, Nigeria and Cameroon respectively.

In seven matches, they were seven different scorelines :

Scoreline	Frequency
0 - 0	1
0 - 1	1
1 - 1	1
2 - 2	1
3 - 0	1
3 - 1	1
4 - 4	1

The second round of matches will be kicked off by a match between Mali and Algeria and should Algeria lose that match then they will be leaving the tournament early.

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Burnley appoint Laws

Thursday, 14th January 2010 11:04am
Burnley has appointed Brian Laws as manager to replace Owen Coyle who left for Bolton Wanderers.

Laws started the season at championship side Sheffield Wednesday and stayed there until December when he was sacked and comes to Turf Moor with no previous experience managing in the Premier League.

Burnley are currently two points above the relegation zone and they have essentially been kept out of the relegation zone due to their home form.

Laws will probably need to get more than one point away from home in the second half of the season and maintain the home form in order to avoid relegation.

Laws first match will be against .

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Man City rises to fourth

Tuesday, 12th January 2010 6:43pm
Only three matches were played in round 21 of the English Premiership with the other seven postponed because of weather related safety concerns.

Of the three matches played, only Manchester City managed to win and that win took the Eastlands club to fourth on the table.

Man City's 4-1 win over Blackburn moved the team to fourth three points behind third placed Arsenal and one point ahead of fifth placed Tottenham.

Birmingham City continued their unbeaten streak with the 12th match unbeaten in the league after the draw with Manchester United.

That draw meant that the champions failed to claim top post which a win would have afforded them given Chelsea's inactivity.

With so many matches postponed this week I will take a look at the form table and hope that there will be a full round in round 22.

Team	P	W	D	L	For	A	GD	Pts	Streak
Arsenal	6	4	2	0	15	5	10	14	WDWWWD
Man City	6	4	1	1	16	10	6	13	DLWWWW
Aston Villa	6	4	0	2	7	4	3	12	WWWWLL
Bham City	6	3	3	0	6	3	3	12	WWDDWD
Tottenham	6	3	2	1	9	3	6	11	DLWWDW
Man United	6	3	1	2	12	6	6	10	LWLWWD
Liverpool	6	3	1	2	6	5	1	10	DLWLWW
Chelsea	6	2	3	1	9	8	1	9	LDWDDW
Wolves	6	3	0	3	5	9	-4	9	WWLWLL
Everton	6	1	5	0	11	9	2	8	DDDDWD
Fulham	6	2	2	2	8	6	2	8	WDWDLL
Bolton	6	1	4	1	11	10	1	7	DLDWDD
Portsmouth	6	2	1	3	7	9	-2	7	WDLWLL
Wigan	6	1	2	3	7	13	-6	5	WLDLDL
Stoke	6	1	1	4	5	10	-5	4	LDLLLW
West Ham	6	1	1	4	4	11	-7	4	LLLDWL
Sunderland	6	0	3	3	7	11	-4	3	LDLLDD
Blackburn	6	0	3	3	5	11	-6	3	DLLDDL
Burnley	6	0	3	3	3	9	-6	3	LDDLDL
Hull	6	0	3	3	4	12	-8	3	DLDLLD

Although Birmingham City are unbeaten in 12 matches, the recent draws mean that they have slid down to fourth on the form table.

Arsenal recent good form sees them take top spot closely followed by Man City who have also scored the most goals in the last six matches.

Hull with just three draws from their last six matches anchor the table.

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Barca demolish Tenerife to stay top

Monday, 11th January 2010 4:51pm
Barcelona came from their disappointing draw in the last round demolish Tenerife 5-0 away from home.

The win made sure that Barca maintained their two point cushion at the top of the La Liga table. This was Tenerife's second 5-nil loss of the season after losing by the same scoreline to Villareal earlier in the season.

Real Madrid won its home fixture against Mallorca 2-nil and they and Barcelona have each scored 42 goals so far this season.

Round 17 of the Spanish Primera division also saw a big win for Atletico Madrid who beat Valladolid 4 -nil. This is the second time Atletico has won by a four goal margin after also beating Espanyol 4-nil in November.

Sevilla's poor run of form continues after losing 2-1 at home to Racing Santander. Sevilla has lost by the same scoreline in the last three matches. Their next match will be away to Barcelona.

Sevilla has now slipped down to fifth place on the ladder after being overtaken by Deportivo La Coruna.

Nothing has changed at the bottom of the table with both Xerez and Real Zaragoza losing. Malaga coudl only salvage a draw.

At this stage of the season after 17 rounds I think it is interesting to take a look at the trends in terms of the result at half time compared to the result at full time:

Trend	Frequency	Percentage(%)
Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time	45	35.2
Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time	29	22.7
Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time	4	3.1
Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time	1	0.8
Draw at half time, home team winning at full time	33	25.8
Draw at half time, away team winning at full time	16	12.5
Matches ending in result	128	75.3

So only five teams have so far managed to turn around the result at half time and with only one away team managing to do so.

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Thriller kicks off Africa Nations

Monday, 11th January 2010 4:28pm
The 2010 Africa Nations Cup was kicked off by an eight goal thriller in a match between hosts Angola and Mali in Luanda.

Angola were 4-nil with just 15 minutes to go but Mali managed to score four goals of their own with the last goal being scored seconds before the end of the match.

Angola and Mali are in group A which also comprises Malawi and World Cup bound Algeria and these two teams will meet in the second match of the tournament.

So eight goals have already been scored after just one match and maybe the record of 99 goals set in the 2008 tournament could well be surpassed this time.

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Perth holds Sydney to stay in the hunt

Monday, 11th January 2010 4:00pm
Perth Glory held league leaders Sydney FC to get the precious point that keeps them in the finals places in round 22 of the A-League.

The draw means Sydney increase their lead at the top to four points after Melbourne Victory lost their second consecutive match. With just five rounds to go Sydney are in the right place at the right time.

Victory lost 3-2 to ten men Newcastle Jets and are now four points adrift of Sydney and just a point ahead of third placed Gold Coast United.

Adelaide got a valuable point against Gold Coast but they remain anchored to the bottom of the table.

Wellington Phoenix are up to fifth place on the table after beating Brisbane Roar 3-1 at home. This was the Roar's second consecutive loss after losing to the Gold Coast in the last round.

This week I will show a first half table so far this season. This table considers only the result up to half time and after the next round I will take a look at the second half table.

Team	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	GD	Pts
Sydney	22	7	11	4	14	6	8	32
Central Coast Mariners	22	8	8	6	14	9	5	32
Newcastle Jets	21	8	7	6	16	17	-1	31
Wellington Phoenix	21	6	12	3	12	11	1	30
Gold Coast	21	8	6	7	12	13	-1	30
Brisbane Roar	22	7	8	7	16	15	1	29
Perth Glory	21	5	11	5	12	8	4	26
Melbourne Victory	21	6	8	7	15	19	-4	26
Adelaide Utd	21	5	9	7	7	9	-2	24
NQ Fury	22	4	6	12	8	19	-11	18

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Coyle opts for Bolton

Monday, 11th January 2010 3:07pm
Owen Coyle left Burnley for Bolton Wanderers after the Trotters sacked former manager Gary Megson.

It would look like Coyle built his Burnley side on home form and his old team only lost once at home in the league. That loss was a 3-1 loss to Wigan.

Teams like champions Manchester United went to Turf Moor and lost whilst the Gunners could only scrap a draw.

Whilst the home form was good, the away form was disastrous. Burnley has only picked one point away from home so far.

Interestingly the Trotters have a poor home form having only won just twice at home compared to Burnley's five wins at home.

So I thought it would be interesting to have a quick comparison between Bolton and Burnley:

	Bolton	Burnley
Position	18	14
Played	18	20
Points	18	20
Drawn	6	5
Won	4	5
Lost	8	10
Goal difference	-10	-18
Clean sheets	0	3
Failed to score	4	7
Goals scored	26	22
Goals conceded	36	40
Ave. goals scored	1.4	1.1
Ave. goals conceded	2.0	2.0
Biggest win	Bolton 3 - 1 West Ham	Burnley 3 - 1 Sunderland Burnley 2 - 0 Hull
Biggest loss	Bolton 0 - 4 Chelsea Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton	Tottenham 5 - 0 Burnley
Score 3 or more	4	3
Concede 3 or more	4	7
Home matches
Played	10	10
Points	10	19
Drawn	4	4
Won	2	5
Lost	4	1
Goal difference	-5	5
Goals scored	16	14
Goals conceded	21	9
Ave. goals scored	1.6	1.4
Ave. goals conceded	2.1	0.9
Away matches
Played	8	10
Points	8	1
Drawn	2	1
Won	2	0
Lost	4	9
Goal difference	-5	-23
Goals scored	10	8
Goals conceded	15	31
Ave. goals scored	1.3	0.8
Ave. goals conceded	1.9	3.1

The match between Bolton and Burnley ended in a one-all draw.

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Mallorca home form faces Bilbao test

Friday, 1st January 2010 8:02am
Real Mallorca's unbeaten home record will face the test when the team plays Athletic Bilbao in La Liga's round 16.

Mallorca is one of only three teams still unbeaten at home. The other two are Barcelona and Real Madrid.

On the other hand Athletic Bilbao has only lost twice away from home and drawn just once. Its away record is a good as Real Madrid's.

The two teams are separated by just one point with Mallorca ahead at the moment and so a win for the visitors will see them go above the hosts on the table.

So here is the stats for the two teams so far this season:

	Real Mallorca	Athletic Bilbao
Streak	LWDWWL	WDWLWW
Played	15	15
Points	27	26
Drawn	3	2
Won	8	8
Lost	4	5
Goal difference	10	3
Clean sheets	5	6
Failed to score	1	4
Goals scored	28	19
Goals conceded	18	16
Ave. goals scored	1.9	1.3
Ave. goals conceded	1.2	1.1
Biggest win	Mallorca 4 - 0 Tenerife	Almeria 1 - 4 Athletic Bilbao
Biggest loss	Sporting Gijon 4 - 1 Mallorca	Athletic Bilbao 0 - 4 Sevilla
Score 3 or more	5	2
Concede 3 or more	2	1
Home matches
Played	7	8
Points	21	13
Drawn	0	1
Won	7	4
Lost	0	3
Goal difference	17	-1
Goals scored	20	10
Goals conceded	3	11
Ave. goals scored	2.9	1.3
Ave. goals conceded	0.4	1.4
Away matches
Played	8	7
Points	6	13
Drawn	3	1
Won	1	4
Lost	4	2
Goal difference	-7	4
Goals scored	8	9
Goals conceded	15	5
Ave. goals scored	1.0	1.3
Ave. goals conceded	1.9	0.7

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