News

By Brian Sears 23 January 2015 The formation of the Premier League from the 1992-93 season marked a major change in English football as the gap between the new top division and the rest of football quickly became a gulf. At a glance the first graphic below pretty much sums up what happened in financial […]

By Brian Sears 16 January 2015 Arsenal visit Manchester on Sunday to play Manchester City and then return to Manchester for their last away game of the season in May to play United. Old Trafford has long been hard work for Arsenal, not only in the Premier League era but throughout all the post-war years. In 67 […]

By Brian Sears  31 December 2014 Of all the teams playing in the four main divisions of English football in 2014, Manchester City and Chelsea were the standout performers in the calendar year in terms of points per game. Both amassed 88 points from 38 league games in 2014 for 2.32 points per game on […]

. When Lance Armstrong was banned for life in August 2012 for doping to win his seven Tours de France between 1999 and 2005, most casual observers would have assumed cycling’s well-documented doping problems were, if not solved, then at least cleared up somewhat. But that sordid story did not start with Armstrong nor did it […]

By Brian Sears 19 December 2014 Queens Park Rangers play at home this weekend – and that must be a relief. On home form alone, Harry Redknapp’s team would be eighth in the Premier League, just behind Arsenal, after winning four and drawing two of their eight home league matches at Loftus Road this season. […]

By Brian Sears 12 December 2014 Manchester United have the best home record across the Premier League era of any of the 46 clubs to have played in the Premier League, whichever measure is used. They have played 432 PL games, won 320, drawn 70 and lost 42. That’s more wins than anyone (320); a […]

By Brian Sears 27 November 2014 Chelsea’s storming start in the Premier League is their best ever start in the 23 seasons of England’s revamped top division. With 32 points from their first 12 games, they are a point ahead of their previous best-ever tally at this stage – and more than nine points clear […]

By Brian Sears 21 November 2014 Fans of Southampton must have been pinching themselves over the last year or so, having built on the survival of their ‘return’ season to the Premier League in 2012-13 with two storming starts last season and this. They were ever-present in the revamped top division between 1992 and 2005, […]

By Brian Sears 7 November 2014 The 2014-15 Chelsea vintage are the 17th side to get into double figures of undefeated games at the start of a Premier League season but how long will they go unbeaten? Fourteen of their 16 predecessors did not get beyond 15 unbeaten games, although famously, 11 years ago, Arsenal set the […]

By Brian Sears 31 October 2014 The Manchester derby on Sunday reminds us how the pendulum has swung to the blue side of the city in recent years, and the graphic below charts the dramatic change over time. Manchester City have only been in the same division as United for 17 of the past 22 […]