Part 2 - English Premier League: Figures and Statistics
Another team which failed to impress the past weekend is Aston Villa. Villa have had an average start by their standards. Ever since their ex-manager, Martin O’Neill left the club, Villa have gone downhill. For the beginning five
matches of the season, Villa were under the rule of their caretaker manager, Kevin MacDonald. However, the club’s owner, Randy Lerner practiced some well advised common sense as he brought in Gerard Houlier to take over as the club’s first team permanent manager.
In doing so he relegated Kevin MacDonald back to his reserve team duties.
Villa opened their season with an emphatic four goal victory over West Ham United but so far out of the seven matches that they have played in the English Premier League Villa have only won three and lost three. The remaining one
match has ended in a draw for the men in blue and maroon. Villa finished sixth in the last English Premier League season, in fact for the last three seasons Villa have consistently finished sixth in the English Premier League. Villa took on Tottenham Hotspurs
in their weekends match. It was expected that the match itself will be a tough one as it surely was but in the end, Tottenham ended up as eventual winners by two goals to one.
Villa gave a good account of themselves but it should be noted that this was just their second match under the charge of Gerard Houlier. Thus their failings or deficiencies can be worked upon by their new manager. Houlier previously
managed Liverpool but his tenure at the Merseyside club came earlier on in the decade as he was at Anfield from 1998-2004. Aston Villa are renowned for using the width and employing their wingers out wide. This allows them to open the opposing defense up.
Mostly, Villa depend on their striker, John Carew to coordinate with the likes of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing as these two wingers are skillful crossers of the ball.
Something that Villa are not that famous for is their physical approach but that has changed this season. Villa are at the top of Premier League’s foul charts as they have committed 118 fouls, a number that is higher than any other
English Premier League club. But these fouls have all been minor ones it seems as despite having such a high foul count, Villa have only conceded fourteen yellow cards and zero red cards. John Carew, the Norwegian center forward has committed a foul ever twenty
one minutes he has spent on the field for Aston Villa in the 2010-2011 season. Aston Villa’s three victories this season have all come over teams who are currently in the bottom four of the English Premier League table.
Villa’s derby rivals and city neighbors, Birmingham City F.C are in a very bad run of form presently. Birmingham lost their match on the weekend to Everton, in doing so they allowed David Moyes’s men to get an emphatic two goal
victory over them. Birmingham survived remarkably for another season in the English Premier League after keeping out of the relegation battle in the 2009-2010 Premier League season. Birmingham have only managed to win two of their last seventeen English Premier
League matches. These wins came against Burnley in last season’s league campaign and Blackburn at the start of the 2010-2011 season.
Against Everton at the Saint Andrew’s Stadium, Birmingham failed to even get a single shot on target in doing so they reached a new low. Another individual who covered himself in shame over the weekend was Birmingham’s striker
Cameron Jerome. Jerome has had a total number of fifteen shots on target so far in the English Premier League season. However, the striker has only managed to net a single goal regardless of all of his tries on target.
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