EPL 2012-13 : Gameweek 1-5 : Analysis on Teams currently ranked 11 to 15

In my two previous articles, we saw how the top 10 teams in the English Premier League have played, their form, their strengths & weakness, key players and the way forward this season at the end of 5th gameweek. In this article we will analyze the same for the next five teams.

#11 Swansea City (Games Played:5, Points Scored:7):

Swansea started the season with a bang maintaining No. 2 rank for the first 3 games. But with two back-to-back losses to Aston Villa and Everton, they have dropped to 11th rank. In the first 3 matches they scored 10 goals and in the next 2 matches they didn't score any. In the first two games they didn't concede at all, but they conceded 7 goals in the next 3 games. The team is capable enough to do well against the teams in the bottom-half and mid-table. If they are successful in exploiting that, there is a possibility that they might be in the mid-table at the end. In the next 5 games, apart from the matches against Chelsea and Man City, other matches are not tough for them. Scoring the same 7 points or more in the next 5 games will put them in the mid-table for sure.

Gameweek	Opponent	Home/Away	Result	Goals	Current Rank
1	QPR	Away	Win	0-5	19
2	West Ham	Home	Win	3-0	9
3	Sunderland	Home	Draw	2-2	12
4	Aston Villa	Away	Loss	2-0	14
5	Everton	Home	Loss	0-3	3

#12 Sunderland (Games Played:4, Points Scored:4):

Out of the four teams with 4 points each, Sunderland has played one game lesser. They have so far drew all the matches. In the three matches with goals scored, Sunderland has lost the lead in all the three. In West Ham's match they lost in the extra time. This is an area of concern for Sunderland. They have to either bring in their winning mentality and kill off the game by scoring more goals or be solid in the back and defend the lead to win. All the goals conceded have come from the center of the Penalty area which suggests there is some gap in their existing play. In the attack, all the four goals came from Steven Fletcher, which is not good for the team (increased reliance on a single player). In the next 5 matches, they play against Man City which will be very tough. Against the 4 other teams, Sunderland should try to get as many points as possible. If Sunderland wants to enter the top half of the table, they need to get at least 10 points from the next 5 matches.

Gameweek	Opponent	Home/Away	Result	Goals	Current Rank
1	Arsenal	Away	Draw	0-0	5
2	Swansea	Away	Draw	2-2	11
3	Liverpool	Home	Draw	1-1	18
4	West Ham	Away	Draw	1-1	9

#13 Stoke City (Games Played:5, Points Scored:4):

Playing Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea within the first five games will be the toughest for any mid-table team. Unfortunately, two of these teams played at Stoke's stronghold home stadium (Britannia Stadium). Stoke should have won at least one of the draws against 15th placed Wigan and 20th placed Reading to prove their worth in mid-table contention. Stoke should try to reverse this by scoring at least 7 points in the matches against Swansea, Sunderland and Norwich in the upcoming 5 games. The other two matches against the Reds and the Red Devils are very tough.

Gameweek	Opponent	Home/Away	Result	Goals	Current Rank
1	Reading	Away	Draw	1-1	20
2	Arsenal	Home	Draw	0-0	5
3	Wigan	Away	Draw	2-2	15
4	Man City	Home	Draw	1-1	7
5	Chelsea	Away	Loss	1-0	1

#14 Aston Villa (Games Played:5, Points Scored:4):

Aston Villa has not been the same after the departure of Martin O'Neil. They had a poor start to the season. Though they have a good squad, they are struggling a lot. Aston Villa's performance in 2-4 win against Manchester City in Capital One League Cup is the only best show put up by them. With Given, Bent, N'Zogbia, Agbonlahor and Petrov, Villa should kick-start and catch up with other clubs soon. Sadly they haven't done that in the first 5 games. And if they are continuing the same form, then it is very difficult for them to even touch the mid-table. In the next 5 games, other than Spurs all the matches are winnable. Hence an improvement in the rank at the end of the gameweek 10 only will tell whether they are in the path of recovery or not.

Gameweek	Opponent	Home/Away	Result	Goals	Current Rank
1	West Ham	Away	Loss	1-0	9
2	Everton	Home	Loss	1-3	3
3	Newcastle	Away	Draw	1-1	10
4	Swansea	Home	Win	2-0	11
5	Southampton	Away	Loss	4-1	16

#15 Wigan Athletic (Games Played:5, Points Scored:4):

Wigan played three teams from the top 10 and lost in all the three. They played two teams from the bottom 10 and got four points. Not a bad result. But they should have been better against Fulham. Transfers of Rodallega and Moses were a big loss for Wigan. But Di Santo and new signing Kone tried to compensate for their absence in the attacking front both scoring 2 goals each. Only 4 teams conceded equal to or more than 10 goals. Wigan is one among them. Defensive strategy change is necessary. Another interesting thing is that Wigan has conceded and scored only in 0' to 10', 40' to 60' and 80'+ timings. This suggests that the team is nervously energetic around the beginning, the break and the end of the match. Once the match flows they are solidly maintaining 0-0 till the end comes. In the next 5 games, they don't play any heavyweights. So they have to start gathering more points before they have to play the heavyweights again.

Gameweek	Opponent	Home/Away	Result	Goals	Current Rank
1	Chelsea	Home	Loss	0-2	1
2	Southampton	Away	Win	0-2	16
3	Stoke	Home	Draw	2-2	13
4	Man Utd	Away	Loss	4-0	2
5	Fulham	Home	Loss	1-2	6

Among these 5 teams, at the least 1 team will move into the top half table spot at the end of 10th gameweek. Let’s wait to see the positions then.

Related articles

• EPL 2012-13 : Gameweek 1-5 : Analysis on Teams currently ranked 6 to 10 (arunsankar.wordpress.com)


• Fantasy Football Gameweek 5 (thebatamonblog.wordpress.com)


• EPL 2012-13 : Gameweek 1-5 : Analysis on Teams currently ranked 1 to 5 (arunsankar.wordpress.com)