English Premier League: Statistics and Figures – Part 3
Mark Hughes’s Fulham have been on a steady road to success this season. After getting a draw against Manchester United at the Craven Cottage, Fulham suffered the unfortunate fate of having their key striker, Bobby Zamora injured
against Wolverhampton Wanderers in their fourth league match of the season. Currently, 7th in the English Premier League tables, the Cottagers have been unbeaten so far in the 2010-2011 season and have one point more than the total number of points
they had after playing five league games last season under their ex-manager, Roy Hodgson.
Hughes was brought in to improve on Fulham’s 12th placed finish last season and he is well on course to guiding the Londoners to a top half finish this season, given that his team continue their present run of form.
In their last league match against Blackburn Rovers, which was played at Ewood Park i.e. Blackburn Rovers’ home ground; Mark Hughes’s side had an astonishing amount of 62% possession throughout the game. However, their lack of creativity was evident as even
with controlling the ball for large periods of the game, they were only able to fire off two shots on Paul Robinson’s goal. There is a reason why Mark Hughes is called a “drawer”, the former Manchester United striker has drawn twelve of his last sixteen English
Premier League games as a manager.
Conversely, Liverpool played Manchester United on the weekend in what was one of the most memorable North England derbies to date. Steven Gerrard led his Liverpool team to a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford by scoring both of the Merseysiders
goals. It should not be forgotten that Gerrard’s brace against Manchester United consisted of his first two goals in the English Premier League since he scored for Liverpool against Burnley in April of 2010. Fernando Torres also featured for Liverpool against
United but it was a profligate performance by the Spanish striker who has been off-form in the 2010-2011 League season so far. Therefore it comes as no surprise that Fernando has not scored for Liverpool in his last ten away games for the Reds.
A more worrying factor for Liverpool who are currently 16th in the English Premier League is the fact that they have not scored even a single goal in any of the first halves of the English Premier League games that they
have participated in. Roy Hodgson took over as the manager of Liverpool in the summer break and has not been able to impress thus far with his new Liverpool side, something that must change soon if the Reds are to make it to a top four finish this season.
After spending riches that rival Richie Rich, Manchester City are currently fourth in the English Premier League table. Their manager, Roberto Mancini recently came out and emphasized the fact that he still needs a month more to
get his set of individuals together and form them into a team. However, as time runs out for the ex-Inter Milan manager, his players like James Milner and Carlos Tevez have been on fire this season. Both Milner and Tevez are members of the top five players
in the English Premier League when it comes to creating chances as the Englishman has created fourteen goal scoring opportunities this season while the Argentinean has created thirteen.
Nonetheless, Manchester City have been quite shy when it comes to trying their luck on goal. They have been so “withdrawn” in front of goal that only the likes of Blackburn, Blackpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers have taken lesser
shots than Manchester City in this season’s English Premier League. Regardless, City fans should take pride in the fact that their marquee striker, Carlos Tevez has netted twenty four goals in his last twenty eight Premier League games.
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