Premier League season is just weeks away, with another season of high-intensity matches and exhilarating drama like we’re used to. If you got a spot to watch a game, is it best to sit in the first row, or is it better to take your seat in early section, and get to the stadium an hour before the match starts?
The Premier League is the most-watched professional sports league in the world. Its 24 teams make it the biggest league in terms of global popularity. Each season, the teams play each other twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 38 games. The season finishes with two rounds of playoff matches between the top teams.
The Premier League kicks-off this weekend. With 14 teams competing for the title, it is the most watched league in the world, yet its success is not assured. With every team hoping to get off to a fast start, can the season be won in the first couple of months?. Read more about liverpool against super league and let us know what you think.
Liverpool defeated Norwich 4-1 on the opening day of the season two seasons ago. The Reds eventually won the league, while the Canaries were relegated. They’ll face again on Saturday of the opening weekend.
Managers will be eager to point out that the Premier League season is lengthy and nothing is determined in the first few weeks when the season kicks off this weekend.
“The league is a marathon, not a sprint,” declared legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, while Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United used to speak of championship campaigns starting in February.
But, as the game progresses, do those two points of view remain valid?
The data indicates that, at both sides of the table, getting off to a quick start is now more important than ever.
Taking the lead at the top of the food chain
There was less of a link between establishing an early lead in a championship battle and actually winning the top division when the Premier League started 29 years ago.
Only 26% of clubs who led the table in September went on to win the championship, and less than half of teams that lead in October would still be there at the conclusion of the season in the 99 years prior to the Premier League’s creation.
Fast forward nearly a century, and in the Premier League era, 69 percent of clubs who finish first in September go on to win the championship, rising to 76 percent for those that finish first in October.
What about Ferguson’s suggestion that you wait until the new year to really commit to your title?
Prior to 1992, only 64% of teams who finished first in December were champions, compared to 86 percent in the Premier League.
It has never been more essential to get out to a quick start in an age when a few losses may be catastrophic to a club’s chances of becoming champions.
Another indication of the importance of these early games is that the eventual winners’ first 10 games offer a higher percentage of points earned than the remaining 28 games two-thirds of the time.
Is it possible to prevent a slow death by getting off to a quick start?
Promoted clubs have had a difficult time surviving in the Premier League, with 47% of them being demoted in their first season.
It’s no wonder, therefore, that they have such a terrible record on the first day. In reality, they have only won three out of 30 such games in the last decade, losing 20.
However, early-season points are just as important further down the table as they are at the top, and those who can swiftly recover from a loss stand out.
Over the previous 20 seasons, promoted clubs have had a very clear bar to meet in order to be assured of survival – 11 points from the first ten games. The amount of points gained by promoted clubs in their first 10 Premier League matches, the number of teams surviving and being demoted as a result of those points, and the survival percentage are shown below:
After ten games, the points are tallied. | Survived | Relegated | % chance of surviving |
0-7 | 2 | 15 | 12% |
8-10 | 8 | 7 | 53% |
11-12 | 10 | 2 | 83% |
12+ | 15 | 1 | 94% |
Overall, if you start your campaign with 11 or more points, you have an 89 percent probability of remaining up, but if you start with fewer than 11, your chances of staying up decrease to 31%.
Is it true, however, that the first games are more significant than the last ones? Is it possible for clubs to regroup after the transfer window closes?
Crystal Palace and Leicester City have both produced remarkable drives to escape relegation, earning 18 and 22 points from their last ten games, respectively, but such heroic performances are uncommon.
When comparing promoted clubs’ first and last ten games of the season, being better in the first ten gives them a 71 percent probability of survival, while being better in the last ten (excluding Palace and Leicester) gives them a 58 percent chance.
What about those magical 11 points in ten games? Twenty-five teams have done so in their first ten games and remained up, but just 15 have done it in their last ten games and stayed up.
A bad start may set you up for a lengthy and frustrating season. So, whether you want to compete at the top or scrape by at the bottom, it’s important to analyze those early games and make the most of them.
- Your Premier League club’s coverage is larger and better than ever before, so here’s everything you need to know to make sure you don’t miss a thing.
As the season draws closer, many are looking forward to the start of the new term to see which of the teams have made the best start. The best start is not always made up in the first few games, however. Although clubs often start well, they often slip up as the season goes on. In the past, many have said that a good start is important to the success of a seasons, but now it seems that many teams are quicker off the mark than in the past.. Read more about european super league 2022 and let us know what you think.
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