EPL 2012-13 Gameweek 9 "900 minutes of excitement"

First of all, I want to do some marketing for the Facebook page 'EPL Statistics' - an attempt to find out and share basic patterns and trends in English Premier League. Like the page if you like it.

28 goals were scored, 4 cleansheets have been maintained, 4 home teams won, 4 home teams drew and 2 home teams lost in this exciting Gameweek 9. The week also witnessed 4 red cards and weird refereeing decisions. The most craziest moment of the gameweek was the diving celebration of Luis Suarez in front of Everton bench.

[caption id="attachment_1511" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Luis Suarez diving celebration[/caption]

1. Both Aston Villa and Norwich battled to keep ahead of the relegation pit and had shared the spoils of the battle with a 1-1 draw.

2. After a win-less drought of 6 matches, Wigan managed to win against West Ham with a 2-1 scoreline.

3. Stoke City and Sunderland battle it out for their 'Most draws in a season?' competition with a goal-less draw piling up their 6th draw in 9th and 8th match respectively.

4. Reading failed to register a single win in 8 matches as they drew with Fulham by scoring 3 goals each. The match was exciting with 5 goals scored in the last 30 minutes. The match also produced brilliant long range strikes from Mikele Leigertwood (Reading) and Bryan Ruiz (Fulham).

5. A draw for QPR was denied by an offside late goal by Mikel Arteta. Arsenal won the match 1-0 against a 10-men QPR and finished the week at 6th position in the table.

6. A stunning goal from Carlos Tevez, solid goalkeeping by Joe Hart and injuries to Michel Vorm (Swansea) and Micah Richards (Man City) featured in the dramatic 1-0 win for Man City against Swansea. This is the second cleansheet for the Citizens in 9 matches, but they are the only team in the league to remain undefeated.

[caption id="attachment_1510" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Carlos Tevez against Swansea[/caption]

7. Luis Suarez proved his worth once again by playing a role in both the goals for Liverpool. However they couldn't contain Everton from leveling as Osman and Naismith scored before halftime. The match ended 2-2 to become the first merseyside draw after 12 years at Goodison Park.

8. Southampton is the most goal conceding team with 26 goals conceded in 9 matches. The next close team conceded 18 goals (8 short). Spurs contributed to this pie with 2 goals from Gareth Bale and Clint Dempsey. Tottenham are in a very good run with 5 wins in 6 matches putting them in 4th rank in the table. Their hunger and passion in the pursuit of Champions League football grows more and more every year.

9. Papiss Cisse scored his first goal of the season with a deflection from his back to record a win for Newcastle against West Brom in the extra time. Earlier Demba Ba scored a goal resulting in 8 goals out of 12 Newcastle goals coming just from him.

10. An amazing start to the match yielded Manchester United to score 2 goals in 12 minutes. However Chelsea became steady and came back with a wonderful free kick goal from Juan Mata and another goal from Ramires before 60 minutes. Then came the disaster for Chelsea in the form of a red card to Ivanovic for a challenge on Ashley Young. A red card to Torres for diving (second yellow) and an offside goal allowed for Chicharito hit Chelsea at the head and resulted in their first loss of the season.

Peep into important matches from Gameweek 10:

1. Manchester United vs Arsenal: With Manchester United winning last 3 matches and looking strong in attack and Arsenal recently struggling against Norwich and QPR, the match is set to be an entertaining one. Arsenal have to win it to keep up with teams like Spurs, Everton and Fulham whereas Manchester United have to win this match to mount more pressure on Chelsea and city rivals.

2. QPR vs Reading: A relegation zone battle. These two teams are the only teams who haven't won a single match this season. A battle among them at least should produce a first win for one of the teams.

Related articles

• Premier League Sunday, Gameweek 9: Open Thread (epltalk.com)


• English Premier League: Latest EPL Rumors, Preview and Predictions for Week 10 (bleacherreport.com)


• EPL 2012-13 Gameweek 8 "900 minutes of excitement" (arunsankar.wordpress.com)

EPL 2012-13 Gameweek 8 "900 minutes of excitement"

900 minutes of Gameweek 8 produced 30 goals (4 less than the last 2 gameweeks), 3 cleansheets, 6 home wins, 2 home losses and 2 home draws. Let's have a look into the important happenings of this yet-another-awesome gameweek.

1. Everyone knows that Juan Mata was the man of the match in Tottenham Spurs versus Chelsea with 2 goals and an assist. But there are something much more exciting.

• Out of the 8 league matches for Lilywhites this season, Brad Friedel played in 7 matches and kept no cleansheet. Hugo Lloris played only one match and secured a cleansheet. AVB can't keep on with ignoring the 3 time consecutive French Ligue 1 goal keeper of the year at bench.


• Out of the 4 goals against Spurs, 3 goals happened primarily due to defensive mistakes. 2 of them are due to poor clearance from William Gallas. These errors have to be avoided to help Spurs clench more cleansheets.

[caption id="attachment_1471" align="aligncenter" width="500"] AVB trusts Brad more than Hugo[/caption]

2. West Ham are proving that they are strong contenders for a position in the top half of the table (like they usually did three years back) with a 4-1 win against Southampton. Mark Noble opened his goal account for the season and added one more to it with a penalty kick against Southampton. The highlight of the match was the brilliant goal from Modibo Maiga leaving three defenders surrounding him in awe. More misery was added to Southampton as they have conceded an average of 3 goals in every game. Their manager Nigel Adkins couldn't control the situation even after trying three different goalkeepers so far. His position seems to be unstable as he is helpless and took the blame himself after the defeat.

3. The third comeback victory for Manchester City came against West Bromwich Albion (1-2). This one is special for City as they did this with just 10 men on field for over an hour. Milner received a red card before 30 minutes because of Vincent Kompany's disastrous losing of ball to opponents. Edin Dzeko who has been instrumental in all these 3 comeback wins has started only 2 times in this season out of the 8 matches. This top scorer of Manchester City (Other strikers' goals put together equals his 5 goals) deserves more starting games. His post-match words "I will never be supersub. I want to play." reflects his eagerness and disappointment at not being given starting spot consistently.

4. Swansea's 2-1 win against Wigan Athletic has just let them keep up in table's top half position. Miguel Michu scored one goal putting his name alongside top scorers of the league, Van Persie and Demba Ba (6 goals).

5. Manchester United's attack seems like the days when Ronaldo and Rooney used to play together. Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney shared 4 goals and 2 assists including a own goal against Stoke City in a 4-2 home win. United's attack is one of the best in the league now, but defensively they have never been this worse.

[caption id="attachment_1495" align="aligncenter" width="500"] "Rooney - Van Persie" Lethal Attacking Pair[/caption]

6. Aston Villa lost the match against Fulham by 1-0. Fulham who have lost only against the 2nd (Manchester United), 3rd (Manchester City) and 7th (West Ham) ranked teams is in a better position in the league and will fight it out for the Europa league spot.

7. Liverpool won against a win-less Reading with a 1-0 win to move to 12th position (their best position so far this season in the table). They need to continue doing it to try and challenge the top 10 teams. So far Liverpool has had 2 cleansheets and both of them came from the last 2 matches. It is a good sign when they are climbing up the table.

8. First win for Norwich city came against Arsenal in the match which ended 1-0. Arsenal lost out on an opportunity to lead Everton and Tottenham at this early stage against an easy opponent. Norwich defended well till the end after they scored in the 20th minute. After the win, Norwich along with Sunderland and Aston Villa are the least scoring teams in the league with 6 goals. Out of the 6 goals to Norwich, 3 were scored by Holt.

[caption id="attachment_1501" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Holt vs Arsenal[/caption]

9. Sunderland registered their 5th draw (Only Stoke city has that many draws) in 7 matches in a 1-1 match against Newcastle. One more goal from Demba Ba, but for a change it is a own goal. So far, he has scored 7 out of the 10 goals Newcastle has scored.

10. QPR were lucky to get 1 point against the in-form Everton. The final score is 1-1. Everton should have gone to overpower QPR who haven't yet registered a single win in the league (along with Reading), but with 10 men on pitch it is a good result for them.

Peep into key matches of Gameweek 9:

1. Chelsea vs Manchester United: This match between teams ranked 1 and 2 will be the match to watch this weekend. Manchester United had problems defensively, but the news of Smalling's comeback will be a moderate morale booster. A win for Red Devils will put them one point less than the Blues. A win for Blues will extend their lead to seven points and probably put Manchester United to trail behind Manchester City.

2. Everton vs Liverpool: The Merseyside derbies are always special. The timing of the match is also special this time when Liverpool is rising up the table and Everton is trying to hold on to its 4th position.

3. Aston Villa vs Norwich: The battle for the relegation will not begin late. Both these teams have been struggling very much this season. A win for any team would give the team hope for staying put in the league and the opponents fear of relegation.

Related articles

• A Look Ahead to Gameweek9 and Beyond (funnyoldgame.wordpress.com)


• Premier League Saturday, Gameweek 8: Open Thread (epltalk.com)


• EPL 2012-13 Gameweek 7 in a nutshell (arunsankar.wordpress.com)

EPL 2012-13 Gameweek 7 in a nutshell

Gameweek 7 ended with 4 home wins, 4 home draws and 2 home losses. 34 goals have been scored (Same as last gameweek) and 5 clean sheets have been maintained.

1. Both Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs have kept their first cleansheet of the season. Both these teams haven't forgot to score either. They are the only two teams to have scored in all the matches played so far. Hugo Lloris proved who No.1 is by keeping a cleensheet in his first premier league appearance by ending a very long consecutive appearance (more than 300 matches) of Brad Friedel in the premier league.

2. Serbian Player of the year 2011, Aleksandar Kolarov, had made his presence strongly felt by scoring a superb free kick and two assists. Previously he has scored against Real Madrid as well. He is becoming one of the regular defenders at City.

[caption id="attachment_1446" align="aligncenter" width="330"] Aleksandar Kolarov goal against Sunderland[/caption]

3. Queens Park Rangers will find it really tough to stay in the league. Even with very good signings, it is difficult for them to get the desired results.

4. Though Fernando Torres is not in his best form yet, consistent goal scoring will help the team a lot in its title challenge. The trio Hazard, Mata and Oscar as usual played really well. Their combined fitness will be the key to Blues' success.

[caption id="attachment_1452" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Oscar[/caption]

5. Branislav Ivanovic has been tremendous this season. His attacking runs are helping the team a lot to distract the defenders. He is at this best form right now.

6. Arsenal's new squad possesses the fighting spirit. Santi Cazorla had his best game for Arsenal so far. Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski lead the team in the attack finely.

[caption id="attachment_1449" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Santi Cazorla against West Ham United[/caption]

7. Those who had made a big story out of Liverpool's win against Norwich were wrong. Liverpool couldn't score at Anfield against Stoke and ranked at 14th right now. It will be a miracle if they qualify for Europa League.

8. Manchester United defenders shone at the clash against Newcastle. They scored two goals from two corners to put the team in comfortable lead in the first 20 minutes.

Peep into key matches of Gameweek 8:

1. Andre Villas Boas will be meeting Chelsea for the first time since he left. With Spurs in good form with 14 points, this will be the most anticipated game.

2. Liverpool plays Reading at Anfield. Losing as much home points will put the manager Brendan Rodgers in trouble. A must-win match.

Related articles

• My opinions on EPL 2012-13 Gameweek 6 (arunsankar.wordpress.com)


• Gameweek7 Review (funnyoldgame.wordpress.com)

My opinions on EPL 2012-13 Gameweek 6

Gameweek 6 with 3 home wins, 2 home draws, 5 home losses, 2 clean sheets and 34 goals was indeed a disastrous week for the home teams. The following are my opinions about this disastrous week for the home teams:

1. Though Fernando Torres scored with a wonderful flick and contributed well to the defense, his one-on-one miss opportunity in the first half should have been converted and that could have been a killer. Support for the defensive solidness by the attacking midfielders Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar is the character required from a team fighting out for the title.

2. Though Gervinho scored an awesome goal, the number of missed opportunities was disappointing. I almost got the feeling that it was the same old Adebayor who was playing.

3. Goddess of Luck, Fortuna, was on Manchester City's side. It's good for them at the time when they are struggling defensively.

4. Spurs won at Old Trafford after 23 years and André Villas Boas showed his capability and acumen to the Premier League.

5. Manchester United's defense was pathetic. The defenders couldn't even hold the opponents in any of their counter attacks. With so many injuries, SAF has to invest on buying some solid defender to avoid what Arsene had done over the past few years.

6. Rooney is still the King of Old Trafford. His sheer presence uplifted Manchester United's game in the second half. Van Persie might not be able to inspire in such a way.

7. With just 16 matches played, Nikica Jelavić became Everton's top scorer last year. Both his goals this week were complete target man materials. And he is turning out to be another brilliant signings of David Moyes. I think that David Moyes deserves to be among Alex Ferguson's succession candidates.

8. Liverpool's win against Norwich doesn't guarantee anything. They need to fight it out with mid table teams at the least if not the top teams to prove that they are still a tough team in the league.

9. Newcastle's dependence on Demba Ba is increasing every gameweek. So far he has scored six out of the eight goals Newcastle has scored.

10. Peter Crouch is still the man to watch in set pieces (in the matches he plays) and his presence in Stoke supplements their brilliance in set pieces.

Let's wait for more exciting things to come out of this best league in the world in the upcoming games.

Related articles

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


• EPL Match Recap- GameWeek 6 (rottengambol.wordpress.com)