The obstacle Man United must overcome to make history

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Manchester United remain marginal favourites to win their 19th league title next season despite losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. To confirm their place as the country’s most successful side in history, they must become the first English team to win four successive titles. How hard can it be?

FOURTH SEASON SYNDROME

Huddersfield (1926-27)
The first ever team to win three successive top-flight titles were toppled by Newcastle when they attempted to win a fourth in 1926-27. The Terriers started poorly, winning just three of their first 12 games but by March they were joint-top. Newcastle had a better goal average and a game in hand but Jack Chaplin’s side were in a good position - they still had to play Newcastle and in the previous three seasons they had saved their best form for the final stages of the season. However, they won just three of their final 11 games and lost 1-0 at Newcastle, meaning they finished the campaign five points behind the Magpies in second. Huddersfield haven’t won the title since.

Arsenal (1935-36)
Herbert Chapman won the first two of Huddersfield’s three straight titles and tragically died while on course to deliver the second of Arsenal’s trio. They sealed the second under Joe Shaw and then the third under George Allison but were slow out of the blocks in season four. A good run in late 1935 saw

Posted: July 10th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

Eight steps to identify this season’s Golden Boot winner

Click here for the latest odds on who will be 2009-10’s top-scorer

The bookmakers seem to agree on who the 15 leading contenders to be next season’s Premier League top-scorer are: Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Robinho, Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor, Dimitar Berbatov, Jermain Defoe, Carlos Tevez, Andrey Arshavin, Frank Lampard and Roque Santa Cruz. We’ve used some trends to whittle down the 15 and leave one man standing:

Over the last decade Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (2000-01) is the only player to have won it in his first season with a new club.
That rules out: Michael Owen, Carlos Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz

The last nine winners were all playing for a Big Four side.
That rules out: Robinho, Jermain Defoe

Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to have been Premier League top-scorer without always playing as an out-and-out striker.
That rules out: Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrey Arshavin

The last British top-scorer was Kevin Phillips in 1999-00.
That rules out: Wayne Rooney

Still standing: Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Robin van

Posted: July 10th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Real Madrid’s spending spree fails to impress the bookies

Barcelona remain title favourites despite Kaka and Ronaldo deals

Real Madrid look set to break the world transfer record twice in one month but the arrival of a new wave of galacticos hasn’t intimidated Barcelona.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta taunted their rivals earlier this week by claiming to be “trebly calm” and the bookmakers agree that there is no need for the reigning champions to get flustered.

Paddy Power price Barcelona as 4/5 favourites to retain the title next season, with Real Madrid not too far behind on 5/4. La Liga trends support those odds: Barcelona haven’t had a single season of isolated domestic

Posted: June 12th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five reasons why Shakhtar Donetsk will lift the UEFA Cup

Shakhtar/Werder Bremen, 7.45pm, ITV4, Free Bets, Best Odds

None of the teams who worked tirelessly throughout last season to earn a place in the UEFA Cup could be bothered with actually trying to win it so it’s been left to two Champions League dropouts to scrap for the right to be the final ever winners of the competition. While that doesn’t sound too exciting, the teams are so closely matched that the bookies can’t decide on a favourite, setting both at 10/11 to win outright. Here’s why we fancy Shakhtar to win in 90 minutes at 2.78 on Betfair:

1. Shakhtar have won nine of their last ten matches in all competitions, drawing the other.

2. Werder Bremen on the other hand have lacked consistency, winning just four of their last eleven.

Posted: May 20th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Away wins are a rarity in UEFA Cup semi-final first-legs

Dynamo Kiev/Shakhtar Donetsk, 5.30pm, ITV4, Best Odds
Werder Bremen/Hamburg, 7.45pm, ITV4, Free Bets, Best Odds

While the Big Four have dominated the Champions League for two successive seasons, the Premier League’s claim to the “best league in the world” moniker is brought into question by the fact that none of the not-so-big 16 have won the UEFA Cup in the last 25 years. We’ve grown accustomed to all-English Champions League semi-finals but tonight teams from the Bundesliga and the Ukranian Premier League fight it out for the right to represent their country in a guaranteed Germany v Ukraine final:

SEMI-FINAL STATS

» The away side haven’t won a UEFA Cup semi-final first-leg in any of the last six seasons and only one of the last 18 have ended in the visitors’ favour.

» There has only been one goal in this week’s three big televised games this week and there is a danger that the drought could continue - only eight of the last 24 UEFA Cup semi-finals have broken the 2.5 goal barrier.

Posted: April 30th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Aston Villa haven’t beaten a top ten team at home all season

Six stats about this weekend’s football

1. Aston Villa have played every team in the top-half at home this season and they have failed to win one of those games. Every other club in the Premier League have beaten at least one of the ten.

2. Spurs have lost just one of nineteen home games under Harry Redknapp and are now the sixth-best performing Premier League team since the weekend he arrived.

3. chickendinner felt Tony Adams was unlucky to get the sack two months ago but Portsmouth are flourishing under Paul Hart, losing just one of ten games under the former Nottingham Forest boss.

4. Lyon’s hopes of an eighth straight Ligue 1 title are in jeopardy after a run of two wins in seven, which leaves them four points off top with six to go.

5. Wolfsburg were languishing in eighth at the end of January before a run of ten straight wins propelled them to the Bundesliga top spot.

6. It’s easy to see why Arsene Wenger regrets not signing Didier Drogba when he had the chance; the striker has scored eight goals in his last seven meetings with Arsenal.

Posted: April 20th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment