The opening day fixtures make good reading for Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves

Six Premier League fixture-list related trends and statistics

1. The last five newly-promoted teams to kick their season off at home all avoided defeat, which is good news for Wolves who open against West Ham.

2. However, the last four to start away from home have all lost. That doesn’t bode well for Birmingham and Burnley, who start at Man United and Stoke.

3. Chelsea have won their opening game in each of the last seven seasons and this year they kick-off their campaign at home to Hull.

Posted: June 17th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five reasons why Burnley should progress to Wembley

Reading/Burnley, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 1, Free Bets, Best Odds

1. Just one of the last ten Championship teams to have taken a first-leg lead in the play-offs have failed to reach the final (Ipswich against West Ham in 04).

2. If an aggregate score was taken from the two Reading/Burnley league clashes, the Royals would have won. However, in two of the last three seasons the side in the fourth-versus-fifth play-off that has had the worst of the league showdowns has triumphed.

3. Reading have won just six of their last 24 games and haven’t won any of their last eight at the Madejski - losing four of the last six.

4. Whereas Burnley are ending the season on good form having lost just one of their last 12. A draw is enough for them to progress.

5. The Clarets have lost just three of their last eight away games against Reading in league competition.

Posted: May 12th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 2 Comments

Sheff Utd are 3.1 on Betfair to maintain their great away run

Burnley/Sheff Utd, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 1, Free Bets, Best Odds

Since January 31, Sheffield United and Burnley have averaged more points per game than any other teams in the Championship, making this match a clash between the division’s two form sides. It’s a massively important one too as Burnley need three points to extend their advantage over Swansea and Preston while Sheffield United need at least a point to realistically maintain their chances of automatic promotion. Here are five stats about tonight’s huge Championship match:

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1. Sheffield United are unbeaten in fifteen away league games.

2. However, Burnley are yet to lose a home game against a fellow top six side, having held Birmingham and Cardiff and beaten Reading and Wolves.

3. The Blades have the best away defence in the league, having conceded just 16 goals in 21 games on the road. They have conceded two or more on just three occasions.

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

Why Arsenal may need to score again to eliminate Roma

Roma/Arsenal, 7.45pm, Sky Sports Xtra, Free Bets, Best Odds

Arsenal will take confidence from the fact Chelsea completed their job in Italy having arrived with a 1-0 advantage but will also be aware how hard Juventus made things for the Blues. Roma are even better at home than Claudio Ranieri’s side so Arsenal may need to score and force their opponents to score three. Sometimes they find that easy - Cardiff, Burnley - but sometimes they make things really difficult for themselves - West Ham, Sunderland, Fulham. Here are some interesting stats about tonight’s match:

» Roma are unbeaten in twelve home matches and have won ten of them.

» The Italian side have only failed to score once at the Stadio Olimpico since Manchester United won 2-0 there on April 1 last year and that was against league leaders Inter.

Posted: March 11th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

A good omen for Everton, another Charlton collapse

Five stats about this weekend’s football

1. Everton have lost just one of their last seventeen games, with their only defeat over that period coming away to Manchester United. The last four teams to knock Middlesbrough out of the FA Cup have reached the final (and lost), meaning that Everton could be the team to end the Red Devils sextuple bid in the semis.

2. Arsenal have failed to score in their last three home league games but they have managed eight in their three cup games at the Emirates over the same period, winning each game to nil. The only team to have scored against the Gunners in their last eight games was West Brom.

3. Fulham’s 4-0 home loss to Manchester United was the first time since last April that they have been beaten by more than one goal at Craven Cottage.

4. Charlton’s 3-2 loss at home to Watford at the weekend marked the third time in seven games that they had led at half-time only to end up being beaten.

5. Now that they have rediscovered some form, Wolves look likely to become the sixth team in six seasons to win automatic promotion a year after finishing just outside the play-offs in either seventh or eighth.

Posted: March 9th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five reasons why Arsenal will get some revenge on Burnley

Arsenal/Burnley, Sunday 1.30pm, Setanta Sports 1, Best Odds

Everyone was starting to believe that Arsenal’s youngsters were invincible and destined for Carling Cup glory until they went to Burnley and got knocked off their perch in December. Now Arsene Wenger is ready to use his big name players to gain revenge as Arsenal look to record consecutive wins for the first time since mid-January.

1. Arsenal have won eight of their nine home cup games this season and have conceded just one goal over the course of those games.

2. The Gunners haven’t lost a home FA Cup match for over twelve years, with their last defeat coming against Leeds in February 1997. They have hosted 28 games in the competition since.

3. Despite underperforming at the Emirates recently, Arsenal are brilliant when welcoming opposition from the North West. They have won five and drawn one of their six to date.

Posted: March 5th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment