Part 9 - English Premier League: Figures and Statistics
West Ham United, Wigan and Wolverhampton Wanderers are the next three outfits under the spotlight. West Ham United are the first ones as they have been on a resurgent run of form lately.
After starting the season in absolutely abysmal form, the Hammers have been steadily improving under their new manager, Avram Grant. Grant took over at West Ham after the club parted ways with Gianfranco Zola at the end of the
previous English Premier League season. Grant’s appointment came as little surprise as the Israeli national has a history of turning clubs around. During his time at Chelsea, Avram took the blues to their maiden UEFA Champions League title and while at Portsmouth,
he took a very average squad to the final of the F.A Cup.
However his start with West Ham was so bad that there were reports in the media that suggested that he ex-Chelsea man might actually be sacked from his new job within three months of the new season’s initiation. Slowly but surely,
West Ham have actually turned their defeats into draws and draws into wins. Their last match was a well fought draw against Fulham at Upton Park stadium. Through the draw, West Ham gained a precious point which took them to five points. Nonetheless, Grant’s
team stay at the bottom of the twenty team English Premier League table level on points with Wolverhampton, and one behind the mighty Liverpool.
West Ham’s players cannot be faulted for their efforts though. They have tried their luck by taking as many shots as they can on the oppositions goals. Whether or not they hit the target is another question but the Hammers have
taken more shots than every other team in the English Premier League barring Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United. Victor Obinna has been a standout performer for West Ham as he scored in their Carling Cup match against Sunderland. In the Premier
League Victor has had sixteen attempts on target but he is still to break his goal duck in the league competition. West Ham quite appreciably have not lost in any of their last three games, something that they have achieved for the first time since their good
run of form in January 2010.
Alternatively, Wigan won their last league match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. The match itself was marred by a wretchedly ill timed tackle by Karl Henry which almost injured Gomez. Wigan ended up as winners by a score line
of two goals to nil and now they are only one point worse off than their tally in the 2009-2010 season after seven games played in the English league.
After Henry’s sending off, Wigan gained control of the game and made full use of their possession as they amassed a massive ten shots on target against Mick McCarthy’s team on Saturday. The Latics also had a remarkably accurate
pass completion rate as they competed eighty six percent of their passes at the DW Stadium.
Conversely, the Wolves were truly damning in their display against Wigan. Mick McCarthy’s team had been criticized before the match for having an overtly physical approach to their league matches and thus it was only a matter of
time before one of their players was shown a red card due to their tendency to pull off two-footed tackles. Wolverhampton only had 39 percent of possession against the eleven men Wigan on the weekend.
They have gathered up twenty yellow cards and two red cards in their seven Premier League games so far in the 2010-2011 season. In addition to this, Wolves only had two goal attempts at the DW stadium; these two shots on target
came from two free kicks that the Wanderers were awarded near the Wigan goal.
Tags: