Twelve promulgations for the English Premier League as of 12/2/2015. 36% of the 2015-2016 season is complete.
1. Since the Beginning of November, 4 teams have remained undefeated, furthermore only one of them is among the "Big 5"
a. Everton went 2-2-0 against Sunderland, West Ham United, Aston Villa and Bournemouth
b. Leicester City went 3-1 against West Bromwich Albion, Watford, Newcastle United and Manchester United.
c. Manchester United went 2-1 against West Bromwich Albion, Watford and Leicester City.
2. Sunderland Black Cats have won two straight clean sheet matches (Stoke City and Crystal Palace) behind goals by Van Patrick van Aanholt (first Premier League goal), Duncan Watmore and Jermain Defoe . That's twice as many wins as they had up until that point. Sam Allardyce is doing a good job in a short amount of time as their new manager.
3. Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Swansea City continue to reel all going 0-1-2 since the beginning of November.
4. Liverpool is playing well on the road (much like Southampton does) but at home they have just 3 goals under Klopps ‘gegenpressing' style. Sometimes doubling down can hurt you.
5. Aston Villa has tied the lowest league record through 14 matches in a season. They currently have 5 points and a goal differential of -15.
a. This has happened 3 times before and all teams were relegated (Swindon Town 1993/1994, Sunderland 2005/2006 and Queens Park Rangers 2012/2013)
6. Arsenal has watched Francis Coquelin, Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez all go off with injuries in the last two weeks. They were looking like the best team in EPL for a month there, let's see how this affects them.
7. Boaz Myhill has the second most clean sheets right now at 6. Meanwhile Sunderland goalie Costel Pantilimon has made the most saves in the league with 57, two ahead of Tim Howard.
8. Top carded teams:
a. Red Cards: West Ham United (4), Chelsea (3), Newcastle United (3), Stoke City (3).
b. Yellow Cards: Tottenham Hotspur (33), Liverpool (32), West Bromwich Albion (31), Sunderland (29) - Sunderland had none last match.
9. Sunderland currently has the 6th highest percentage of Assists on Goals (75% of them) meaning more points to spread around when they score.
10. Leicester City has been awarded 5 Penalty Kicks this year (they scored on all 5). That is 40% higher than the next closest team (Swansea City and Crystal Palace each have 3).
11. Four teams have not been awarded a Penalty Kick this year: Chelsea, Norwich City, Everton and Newcastle United.
12. Five players who are shining lately possibly NOT on your radar:
Lee Cattermole (Sunderland) - Defense - Two consecutive clean sheets.
Jermain Defoe (Sunderland) - Forward- Scored 7 goals in last 10 Sunderland matches
Mauro Zarate (West Ham United) - Forward - Scored in 3 of his last 5 matches with West Ham
Emre Can (Liverpool) - Midfield - Is serving as the core of Liverpool right now.
Yannick Bolasie (Crystal Palace) - Forward - Has now scored 5 goals in 5 matches across all leagues.
Premier League Power Rankings:
NBC Sports |
|
Arsenal |
3 |
Aston Villa |
20 |
Bournemouth |
18 |
Chelsea |
12 |
Crystal Palace |
10 |
Everton |
8 |
Leicester City |
1 |
Liverpool |
5 |
6 |
|
Manchester United |
4 |
Newcastle United |
16 |
Norwich City |
17 |
Southampton |
7 |
Stoke City |
9 |
Sunderland |
19 |
Swansea City |
15 |
Tottenham Hotspur |
2 |
Watford |
14 |
West Bromwich Albion |
13 |
West Ham United |
11 |