By Alexandra Willis in Melbourne “Does Wimbledon have an extreme heat policy?” It was a perfectly innocent question. But if you’ve ever been to Wimbledon, you will understand why it was an amusing one. Rain delays, rather than heat delays, are a fact of SW19 life. The skies darken, the clouds let rip, the court […]
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Liverpool in search of first Premier League win at Stoke at sixth time of asking
By Brian Sears 10 January 2014 Liverpool have made five Premier League visits to Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium but have yet to win there in the PL era. Twice they have returned to Anfield with a point, and three times with nothing at all. Stoke’s home success against Liverpool can be seen in context in our club-by-club […]
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NUMBER-CRUNCHED: the best and worst of English league football in 2013
By Brian Sears 30 December 2013 Of all the teams playing in the four main divisions of English football in 2013, Arsenal performed the best in the calendar year in terms of points per game. Arsene Wenger’s side played 38 league games, winning 25 and drawing seven for 82 points in total or 2.16 points […]
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United’s historic home dominance laid foundation for serial success
By Brian Sears 20 December 2013 You need to win your home games: it’s one of those football cliches that is a cliche because it tends to be true at both ends of the table. If you want to win the title, invariably it will be great home form that is the bedrock on which […]
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Fulham travel to Everton in shadow of bleak, defeated record-breaking history
By Brian Sears 13 December 2013 Everton host Fulham at Goodison on Saturday seeking to maintain perhaps the longest 100 per cent winning run against the same opponent at the same venue in English football. Everton have beaten Fulham in 20 straight league games at home now, dating back to 1961. They seek a 21st […]
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Toon, Hammers and Stoke seek to end ducks against United, Liverpool & Chelsea
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 […]
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History has Hammers hopeful and Fulham fretting ahead of drop-zone derby
By Brian Sears 29 November 2013 West Ham’s indifferent start to the season sees them poised just above the relegation zone but they face their ‘favourite’ Premier League opponents, Fulham, this weekend. As the graphic below shows, West Ham have met Fulham 18 times in the Premier League era and won more points per game […]
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Doubt over Leeds future as MD Haigh’s spokesman confirms shortlisting as Tory MP
By Duncan Castles 26 November 2013 The managing director of Leeds United, David Haigh, hopes to be named as Tory party candidate for Northampton South at the 2015 General Election, his spokesman has confirmed. The development will raise questions from some Leeds fans over the medium-term intentions of Haigh at Elland Road, and over the […]
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Liverpool 51 Everton 16. (That’s the number of post-war seasons finishing higher)
By Brian Sears 21 November 2013 Everton have finished higher than Liverpool in the past two Premier League seasons but in the 67 completed post-war campaigns, Liverpool have a 51-16 lead in who has finished higher in England. In graphical form, that 67-year head-to-head looks like this (article continues below): Everton fans of a certain […]
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Amnesty International report: Fifa must not tolerate human rights abuses in Qatar
By Nick Harris 17 November 2013 A new report published this evening by Amnesty International and based on interviews with workers, employers and government officials, says that Qatar’s construction sector is “rife with abuse, with workers employed on multi-million dollar projects suffering serious exploitation.” Amnesty say that the full 166-page report – The Dark Side of Migration: […]
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