😬 Divided division

Plus: Matchweek 24 was all about timing

February 12, 2024

GM football fans. Route One here. The Champions League returns this week, who fancies suggesting a Valentine’s night in? We dare you.

Today’s briefing is a ~5 min read:

It’s all about timing in the Premier League ⏱️
Matchweek 24 quick hit stats 💉
The Divided Division 😬

IT’S ALL ABOUT TIMING ⏱️

1/ West Ham fans leave early.

Martin Ødegaard kindly snapped the West Ham fans leaving at half-time for us…

Source: @TrollFootball

Whether the fans should have left early is up for debate. I mean, it’s your ticket, you can do what you like with it.

But you can see why they did:

4-0 down at half-time.
The Hammer’s former captain Declan Rice scored one and assisted two…ouch.
West Ham played absolutely rubbish.
They lost 6-0.

Despite being 8th in the league (a big improvement on West Ham’s 14th-place finish last season), not all seems rosy in East London.

2/ Another early celebration gets punished.

At R1, we love it when players taunt their opposition. It’s fun, dramatic and everything a big football match needs.

But remember this rule: if you’re going to shimmy in a player’s face, make sure you win.

Douglas Luiz decided to dance in the direction of Manchester United GK Onana when he made Villa level with United…

… but Manchester United went on to win the game 2-1.

We’re starting to lose count of how many times this has happened over the past few Matchweeks.

Alan Pardew knows the feeling all too well…

This was at 1-1 but he lost 2-1…

3/ Manchester City are right on time.

Just like the last three seasons, Manchester City find form when it matters.

All the signs tell us they are ready to fight for their fourth title in a row:

Six wins in a row in the Premier League game.
Haaland is back fit and scored two goals to top the Golden Boot race with 16 goals.
Manchester City beat Everton with a bench of Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Gvardiol…

We’ve seen this story before… oh dear.

MATCHWEEK 24 QUICK-HIT STATS 📊

😯 Trent Alexander-Arnold has registered 58 Premier League assists. That is more than any defender in the competition’s history.

🤔 Jorginho is one of three Premier League players this season with 10+ progressive passes per 90. Zinchenko and Rodri are the only other two.

🤝 Kevin De Bruyne has provided 12 assists for Erling Haaland in all competitions, the most of any Premier League player for a specific teammate since the start of the last season.

😤 This season has seen the highest average of yellow cards per game in top-flight history with 4.4 per game. The previous record was in the 1998-99 season with 3.7.

🔥 Scott McTominay has scored more Premier League goals (7) this season than in his last three seasons combined (6).

Stats from Opta and Fbref

DIVIDED DIVISION 😬

Tensions are on the rise in the Premier League…

We’re not talking about players celebrating in each other’s faces (keep it coming!)

We’re talking about the Big Boy stuff… the judiciary.

Why are we using fancy words? Well, because Manchester City threw their toys out of the pram…

Here’s the short of it…

Last week, the Premier League said that a club (they didn’t name who but everyone's assuming it’s City) threatened a legal challenge.

City thinks that new regulations on associated party transactions (ATPs) are unfair. Boohoo!

(Hold up, what are ATPs?) Good question.

ATPs’ rules impact the way club deals with relationships where there might be a common ownership or even loose connection.

The most common example is when a Premier League owner has connections or owns another club.

Despite City’s threats… the vote took place last week and 12 clubs voted in favour of tougher rules.

OK. But what’s the bigger picture?

The vote only went through with the minimum amount of votes required (it’s usually 14, but two clubs weren’t present)…
… meaning that the Premier League is becoming more and more divided.
Most importantly… the increasing threat of legal action means that football’s future is reliant on the courts.