Why Stoke should be safe and the Bale curse continues
Five stats regarding this weekend’s football
1. Brilliant news for fans of Fulham, Middlesbrough, Bolton, West Ham and Stoke: never in the history of the 20-team Premier League has a team with over sixteen points after fourteen games been relegated.
2. Sunderland have only had one spell of consecutive Premier League victories since 2001 and that came when they won three successive games late last season. Their last six league wins have been followed by defeat.
3. Tottenham have still never won a Premier League game that Gareth Bale has started after Benoit Assou-Ekotto replaced the Welshman in the starting line-up as Spurs beat Blackburn 1-0. If Harry Redknapp is aware of the curse he would be wise to play Bale in the UEFA Cup then restore Assou-Ekotto against Everton on Sunday, though Toffees’ fans will hope this isn’t the case.
4. Steve McClaren’s FC Twente handed UEFA Cup rivals Heerenveen their heaviest league defeat this century by thumping them 6-0. The win was also the biggest ever in McClaren’s managerial career.
5. In four of the last six seasons the Bundesliga has been won by the team who have topped the table after fourteen games and on the two occasions where things haven’t panned out that way, the eventual champions have only been two points behind. That means that having opened a three-point lead this weekend, newly-promoted Hoffenheim, still 6/1 to win with Ladbrokes, could actually win the Bundesliga.
Tags: Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Blackburn, Bolton, Bundesliga, Everton, FC Twente, Fulham, Gareth Bale, Harry Redknapp, Heerenveen, Hoffenheim, Ladbrokes, Middlesbrough, Premier League, Steve McClaren, Stoke, Sunderland, Tottenham, Totttenham, UEFA Cup, West Ham
Posted: November 24th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | 
