By Brian Sears
6 December 2013
There has been an uncommon amount of equality so far in this Premier League season, with the ‘smaller’ clubs getting some fine wins over the ‘big guns’ more frequently than we might expect.
While acknowledging that a current top four of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool is hardly a flock of minnows, it has been refreshing to see so many clubs bunched into the chasing pack; nine clubs remain within a win or two of the top four.
Quite how topsy-turvy the season will continue to be remains to be seen, but this weekend’s fixtures throw up three matches where one side has held a long dominance against the other in the fixture being played.
Newcastle have visited Old Trafford 19 times in the Premier League and never won there.
West Ham have visited Liverpool 17 times in the Premier League and never won there.
Stoke have met Chelsea 10 times in the Premier League and never beaten them.
Details (and article continues below):
West Ham have visited Anfield 17 times in the Premier League without a win. That’s 12 Liverpool wins and five draws and an aggregate goals total of Liverpool 33 West Ham 4.
The last league win for West Ham at Anfield was 2-1 in the season 1963-64. That’s 41 league visits ago.
Stoke have played Chelsea 10 times in the Premier League, home and away, without a win. That’s eight Chelsea wins and two draws and an aggregate goals total of Chelsea 22 Stoke 3.
The last league win for Stoke over Chelsea home or away was on 5th April 1975 at home by 3-0 and the goals were scored by Conroy (2) and Greenhoff. That’s 15 league games ago.
If the league truly is experiencing a seismic openness this term, we might expect some shocks today.
Don’t hold your breath.
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