Results Comparison With Last Season

What do the above tables represent?

Well, they are the comparison between this season’s results and the corresponding fixtures from last season.  In other words, I have compared how each team has done with their fixtures so far, compared with the results against the same opposition from last season.

Or put it another way, how has a team done this season compared to their results against that opposition at that venue, from last season?

I have stripped out games against the promoted clubs as that distorts things, because you cannot compare both seasons.  What that throws up is Tottenham has played three promoted clubs already this season, whereas West Brom has yet to meet any of them.

To give an example, Arsenal has taken 19pts from sides who were in the Premier League last season.  Yet in those corresponding fixtures last season they took 22pts.  By way of a comparison, Southampton has taken 15pts from games where they only managed 4pts last season.

What this research does reveal is perhaps a little more consideration to whether a side has had a good or poor start to the season.  For example, Aston Villa fans may be wondering whether they’ve had a good or bad start to the season, and you can see from the tables they’ve taken 9pts from fixtures they only managed 1pt from last season.

For those sides who are under new management you can compare how Mark Hughes’ Stoke City have done in games this season compared to the team managed by Tony Pulis last season.  David Moyes Manchester United has managed 11pts, whereas the same team managed by Alex Ferguson gained 19pts from the same opposition.

Of course what this ignores is that many of these fixtures are played at different stages in each season and so form, injuries and general conditions can have an effect. 

Tottenham have the oddest sequence in that their record this season matches last season’s.  When you look a little closer their results haven’t been the same against each opposition, for example they were beaten at home by West Ham when they won the corresponding fixture last season.

There is nothing to be gained by this research, other than it can give an idea of whether your team has improved from last season, or gone backwards.