Brian Sears 16 March 2012 The Premier League’s 20 clubs have won 772 points between them so far this season, and more than three-quarters of all the points – 588 points, or 76.1 per cent – have been won by the teams scoring the first goal. Some clubs are better than others at capitalising on […]

Brian Sears 9 March 2012 We hinted last week that West Brom might be encountering Chelsea at just the right time to gain their first Premier League victory against them – or indeed their first Premier League point – at the 12th time of asking. How did that go, AVB? A week later and West […]

By Brian Sears 1 March 2012 Certain football club pairings throw up a dominance by one over another across very different eras that logic alone cannot explain. Everton by most neutrals’ estimation are a ‘bigger’ club in all senses than Queens Park Rangers. Everton have won nine English league titles and five FA Cups and […]

By Brian Sears 24 February 2012 So Wolves have found themselves a new manager in the form of Terry Connor, at least until the end of the season. But they’ve never yet managed to find a win against Newcastle United in the Premier League. And where are they going this weekend? That’s right: St James’ […]

By Brian Sears 17 February 2012  A blank Premier League weekend leaves a statistician with no top-flight matches to get statistically steamed up about. No goals will be scored, and none conceded as England’s top level takes a break for the FA Cup. Don’t get me wrong, I know all too well that football exists outside of […]

By Brian Sears 10 February 2012 Manchester City visit Villa Park on Sunday 12 points better off after 24 games than ever before in their Premier League history. City’s previous best at this stage of a season was the 45 points from 24 games last season when they finished third. They have 57 now. As City’s circumstances […]

By Brian Sears 3 February 2012 Earlier in the week we highlighted how Fulham had held a perfect Prem record against West Brom, and no sooner had we highlighted it, it went pop as they could only draw 1-1. That’s Sod’s Law – and the glory of sport. Neither does it prevent me from highlighting, […]

By Brian Sears 30 January 2012 I’m often saying to myself: ‘It’s a funny old game,Brian.’ Take Fulham. They go 386 Premier League games without one of their players notching a Premier League hat-trick and then Andy Johnson does it for them at home to QPR, and then just 15 games later, with timing reminiscent of London buses, […]

Brian Sears 13 January 2012 Aston Villa are having a mediocre season when it comes to gaining points; just 23 from 20 games. Villa have only known four previous seasons when they have gained fewer points at the same stage. In 1994-95 they had only 17 points and ended 18th just escaping relegation in a league then […]

By Brian Sears 30 December 2011 Tottenham will soon become the first club in the Premier League era to have conceded 1,000 goals in Premier League matches. To date, they have conceded 998 in 751 Premier League games at a rate of 1.33 per game. One might reasonably expect two more at some point in […]