Stats on this weekend’s four major Premier League games

Click here for the latest odds on the relegation battle

The deck seems to be stacked against Newcastle as they enter the final day in the relegation zone with Hull facing Manchester United Reserves but we still find it difficult to imagine them playing in the Championship. Here are three stats for each of Sunday’s four biggest games:

Aston Villa v Newcastle
The hosts have won just one of their last 15 games in all competitions.
Villa have only triumphed in three of their last 13 home league matches.
However, Newcastle have lost on three of their last four visits to Villa Park.

Hull v Manchester United
Manchester United have won their final match in five of the last six seasons.
The Tigers shipped three goals at home to Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Posted: May 22nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Everything you need to know about Hull v Manchester Utd

Hull/Man Utd, Sunday 4pm, Sky Sports 3, £25 No Loss Bet

Try not to get too upset but this is the final Premier League interactive wizard we are producing with Betfair this season, although there are still Champions League and FA Cup Final ones to come. It features dozens of player-specific statistics and superfacts about the 38th and most important match of Hull’s Premier League existence. Click here to check it out now!

Posted: May 22nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Sunderland keep up their bid to be relegated at Portsmouth

2008-09: The season where nobody can be bothered to survive

The table above shows the average number of points each Premier League club have taken from their last 11 games, with an unprecedented seven clubs all taking less than a point a game. That includes each of the bottom five, who seem to be doing everything in their power to be relegated, while Aston Villa and Wigan are plodding along with very little left to play for.

This is a far cry from the last five seasons, where no more than four teams have averaged under a point a game from matchday 27 onwards. In the last two campaigns, first West Ham and then Fulham have produced some of their best ever form to save themselves from their certain relegation:

2006-07

Posted: May 19th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Paddy Power offer Stoke fans free ice cream for staying up

Bookmakers make amends for “relegating” Stoke after one game

Paddy Power paid out on Stoke being relegated after they lost their first Premier League match 3-1 at Bolton, justifying the decision by saying that “if you’re getting tonked by Bolton on the opening day you’re going to struggle”.

However, after being proven spectacularly wrong they have decided to head down to the Britannia Stadium for the Potters’ final home game of the season against Wigan to serve 8,000 scoops of “humble pie flavoured” ice cream.

Click here to claim a £25 bet with Paddy Power. Stoke fans can back their side to win the league next season at 3000/1, although we don’t see them paying out early on that one!

Posted: May 14th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Aston Villa remember how to win, good news for Sheff Utd

Five stats about this weekend’s football

1. There’s no sign of any fight from the teams supposedly battling to avoid the drop. Over the last seven matches, the bottom five have produced just three wins between them - which have all come against one another (West Brom over Sunderland, Middlesbrough over Hull and Sunderland over Hull).

2. Aston Villa ended a 12-match winless streak by beating Hull last night but the sense of achievement was diminished by the fact Hull have won just two of their last 26 league games.

3. West Ham became the first team to beat Stoke at the Britannia Stadium in 2009 and joined Fulham as one of the only clubs outside the Big Four to keep a Premier League clean sheet there.

Posted: May 5th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Will Middlesbrough or Newcastle reveal themselves as unlikely escapologists?

Click here for the latest odds on Premier League survival

Alan Shearer, the new Messiah, is getting desperate. His plan to get Michael Owen scoring backfired, he keeps ineffectively tinkering with players and formations and even turned to an opera singer for inspiration. But while Newcastle look hopeless now, the most memorable acts of escapology are the unexplainable ones - transformations from hopelessness to safety that nobody anticipates. Will any of this year’s bottom three join the elite group of teams who have saved their season with just four games to spare?

» In the last twelve seasons, only five sides have escaped relegation having been in the bottom three with four games to go.

» The encouraging news for Newcastle, Middlesbrough and West Brom is that three of those five “Great Escapes” have taken place in the last two seasons – West Ham two years ago and Bolton and Fulham last year.

Posted: April 28th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment