Fans Comment
Phil Roberts

Still a long way to go
22 October 2004

The League of Changes: Team performances compared to last season in the same games played so far

Steve Flanagan started to publish an old programme favourite showing how we compare in the same matches from the previous season.  To keep me from watching too much telly, I have been doing a similar exercise for Everton’s results for about 7 or 8 years but in the last 3 or 4 have actually done it for the whole of the Premiership.  It starts to show who is improving and who is getting worse.

So, one quarter of the way through the season, how is it all going to end?  Based on the current changes from last season, my prediction is that the Top 3 will be unchanged.  Their results this season are almost the same as last season so Arsenal now have a 12 point gap on Chelsea and 18 on United.

So who else for the Champs league?  Well on 59 points, a massive 15 behind United, would come Bolton who are only 2nd to Everton as the most improved team this season (up 6 points).  Next is Liverpool, who are down 6 points so would seem the Spanish revolution is no different from the French revolution (And hoping my chickens will all hatch, because I have now counted them!) and should look forward to UEFA Cup football next year.  Newcastle, one point further back, won’t need to renew their passports.

So where are we?  Up 7 points so far and up to 14th place and now only a point behind Villa who are heading down rapidly with 9 points less and the team in 20th when it comes to improvement – or lack of it in their case!  Last season they finished 6th, One place outside a UEFA cup spot and this year they are struggling.  Seem familiar?  We are only 8 points behind Liverpool so you can see the middle of the table is very crowded and places can change every week.

As for the bottom 3.  Well we all know who it is going to be and with Norwich with the same as Leicester’s results from last season, West Brom 2 points down on Leeds’ performances and Palace a massive 7 points down, even on Wolves’ total, then Blackburn can breathe a little easier as they should finish 10 points clear in 17th place.

Amazingly, the two non-promoted clubs which are seen to be in trouble, Southampton and Blackburn, are level and 1 point down respectively against the corresponding matches from last season.  It all perhaps proves that tough fixture lists at the start of the season can destroy the confidence and then when the easier matches come around you start losing points.  The next 9 matches will start to show if this is true, and they start sliding.

Next update is just before Christmas, and if we continue to be up another 7, then we could be needing those passports.

Phil  Roberts

©2004 ToffeeWeb