Chris in London
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 21 Sep 2009
- Messages
- 12,983
A few years ago the rags had a poor-ish record against the other top clubs but took 58 points out of 60 on their way to winning the league. That year apart, in most seasons the outcome of the championship is significantly affected by how the top teams do against each other - without some of the dodgy refereeing decisions against us last season against other top 6 clubs for instance the league would have been much much closer than it ended up being.
So anyway, I thought I would create a thread concentrating on this mini league. It will be interesting to see how closely the mini league mirrors the actual league.
These are the results so far amongst the mini league
Spurs 1 v 2 Chelsea
Liverpool 4 v 0 Arsenal
City 5 v 0 Liverpool
Chelsea 0 v 0 Arsenal
Chelsea 0 v 1 City
These then are the standings:
1 City played 2 points 6
2 Chelsea played 3 points 4
3 Liverpool played 2 points 3
4 Arsenal played 2 points 1
5 Spurs played 1 points 0
6 Rags played 0 points 0
Points to note so far:
So anyway, I thought I would create a thread concentrating on this mini league. It will be interesting to see how closely the mini league mirrors the actual league.
These are the results so far amongst the mini league
Spurs 1 v 2 Chelsea
Liverpool 4 v 0 Arsenal
City 5 v 0 Liverpool
Chelsea 0 v 0 Arsenal
Chelsea 0 v 1 City
These then are the standings:
1 City played 2 points 6
2 Chelsea played 3 points 4
3 Liverpool played 2 points 3
4 Arsenal played 2 points 1
5 Spurs played 1 points 0
6 Rags played 0 points 0
Points to note so far:
- We have played both the other top 6 teams we have faced off the park.
- The only time a top six team has given another a real shellacking (City games not included) was when Arsenal downed tools at Liverpool.
- The others games against each other seem to suggest they are all operating at a similar-ish sort of level. None of them strikes me as being too far away from the others, and all seem to be operating at a level somewhat lower than our own.
- Spurs home form (inside and outside the mini league) suggests their home form may be their undoing, especially within the mini league. Away from home they seem pretty powerful. 16 December at our place is one to watch, and on current evidence will IMO give us a tougher test than away at the swamp the week before
- Arsenal look like bringing their usual inconsistency to the party - did well away at Chelsea, shocking at Anfield.
- Chelsea, having played 3 of their 10 most difficult fixtures already, are arguably (despite bring outplayed by us and matched by Arsenal) pretty well positioned: you would not back against them to win 5 or 6 of their remaining mini league fixtures. I certainly think they, not the rags, are the team to beat.
- The rags, as we know, are yet to be tested by any team in the top 6. Or the top 12, for that matter. What that means is that they have all 10 of their most difficult fixtures yet to face. I haven't looked at their fixture list, but assuming the second half of the season broadly mirrors the first, that rather suggests they will have a pretty tough run-in. We already know the next 5-6 weeks is the time they will either establish themselves as real contenders or be found out.