Hamburg Blade
Well-Known Member
Was a bit bored a few days ago so put together a "mini league" that people talk about - Wilder has also said these are the important games and I agree, but how realistic is it to separate out teams like that?
The following table ignores results against teams that are likely to finish top 8 and lists points against those teams as bonus points. I haven't changed the actual positions in the table as it confuses things if you do that:
removing Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Spurs, Leicester, Wolves, Arsenal, Chelsea.
Southampton pld 6 pts 15 bonus 1
Aston Villa pld 4 pts 6 bonus 9
Everton pld 5 pts 9 bonus 4
Crystal Palace pld 5 pts 10 bonus 3
West Ham U pld 2 pts 3 bonus 8
Newcastle pld 5 pts 9 bonus 2
Leeds Utd pld 4 pts 9 bonus 1
Brighton pld 5 pts 6
Fulham pld 7 pts 4
WBA pld 5 pts 2 bonus 1
Burnley pld 4 pts 2
Sheffield Utd pld 3 pts 1
Does that tell us anything at all? The bad news is that West Ham are probably not the push-over some people think they are. West Ham and Aston Villa should maybe not be a part of this mini league.
The other bad news is that there aren't as many games in hand as perhaps people think and even winning them only moves us to fifth from bottom.
The good news is that we do have games in hand and it's true that fixtures so far have given us a more difficult start than other teams in the bottom half. Just a couple of wins will change things dramatically, but if we want to get out of the mini-mini league fighting against relegation, we need to pick up "bonus" points against the top teams as well.
The following table ignores results against teams that are likely to finish top 8 and lists points against those teams as bonus points. I haven't changed the actual positions in the table as it confuses things if you do that:
removing Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Spurs, Leicester, Wolves, Arsenal, Chelsea.
Southampton pld 6 pts 15 bonus 1
Aston Villa pld 4 pts 6 bonus 9
Everton pld 5 pts 9 bonus 4
Crystal Palace pld 5 pts 10 bonus 3
West Ham U pld 2 pts 3 bonus 8
Newcastle pld 5 pts 9 bonus 2
Leeds Utd pld 4 pts 9 bonus 1
Brighton pld 5 pts 6
Fulham pld 7 pts 4
WBA pld 5 pts 2 bonus 1
Burnley pld 4 pts 2
Sheffield Utd pld 3 pts 1
Does that tell us anything at all? The bad news is that West Ham are probably not the push-over some people think they are. West Ham and Aston Villa should maybe not be a part of this mini league.
The other bad news is that there aren't as many games in hand as perhaps people think and even winning them only moves us to fifth from bottom.
The good news is that we do have games in hand and it's true that fixtures so far have given us a more difficult start than other teams in the bottom half. Just a couple of wins will change things dramatically, but if we want to get out of the mini-mini league fighting against relegation, we need to pick up "bonus" points against the top teams as well.