Aston Villa - A season in numbers

[BOF]

Villatalk takes a statistical look at Villa's season and how we compared to our rivals in the various categories.

First we take a look at the Premier League table split into 3 sections.

Section 1 is from game 1 to game 13. Section 2 is game 14 to game 26 and section 3 is the run-in from game 27 to 38.

It's going to be fairly obvious to anyone who followed us this season that the wheels came off in section 3 but what mightn't be as apparent is quite how brilliant we were in section 2. Only Man Utd accrued more points than us at this point in the season and it saw us climb to 3rd in the league. We didn't open half badly either, even managing to top the freaky start made by Phil Brown's Hull City. Our spectacular fall from grace and borderline relegation form at the end meant all our good work was undone as Everton caught and overtook us. But the first 2 stages should show what we are capable of when fully fit and fully rested.

	1 - 13				14 - 26				27-38
P	TEAM	Pts		P	TEAM	Pts		P	TEAM	Pts
1	Chel	32		1	ManU	35		1	Live	31
2	Live	32		2	AVFC	28		2	Chel	31
3	ManU	27		3	Live	23		3	ManU	28
4	Arse	23		4	Ever	22		4	Arse	27
5	AVFC	23		5	Wign	22		5	Tott	23
6	Hull	21		6	Arse	22		6	Ever	22
7	Ever	19		7	Chel	20		7	Fulh	20
8	Boro	18		8	WHU	19		8	Stok	20
9	Port	18		9	ManC	18		9	ManC	18
10	Fulm	17		10	Fulm	16		10	WHU	18
11	Sund	15		11	Sund	16		11	Blac	15
12	ManC	14		12	Tott	16		12	Port	13
13	Bolt	14		13	Bolt	16		13	Bolt	11
14	WHU	14		14	Newc	15		14	AVFC	11
15	Stok	14		15	Blac	13		15	WBA	10
16	Wign	13		16	Stok	11		16	Wign	10
17	Newc	13		17	WBA	11		17	Boro	9
18	Blac	13		18	Port	10		18	Hull	6
19	Tott	12		19	Hull	8		19	Newc	6
20	WBA	11		20	Boro	5		20	Sund	5

Here's a league table comprised solely of games against the top 4. It shows that on the whole we fared quite well against the elite. Obviously teams within the top 4 have 2 games less but even ignoring that we still managed to beat 2 of them. Spurs and Fulham can be proud of how they dealt with the top 4 aswell. I just think this is an interesting table to see just who put up resistance and who capitulated.

Pos	TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	GD
1	Liverpool	6	4	2	0	14	7	14	+7
2	Tottenham	8	2	4	2	11	14	10	-3
3	Arsenal	6	2	3	1	10	11	9	-1
4	Fulham	8	2	3	3	6	9	9	-3
5	ASTON VILLA	8	1	3	4	6	13	6	-7
6	Man United	6	1	2	3	7	9	5	-2
7	Everton	8	0	5	3	4	9	5	-5
8	Hull City	8	1	2	5	9	17	5	-8
9	Stoke City	8	1	2	5	4	15	5	-11
10	Chelsea	6	1	1	4	6	10	4	-4
11	Man City	8	1	1	6	7	13	4	-6
12	Middlesbrough	8	1	1	6	4	15	4	-11
13	West Ham United	8	0	3	5	1	10	3	-9
14	Sunderland	8	0	2	6	4	15	2	-11
15	Newcastle United	8	0	2	6	4	19	2	-15
16	Wigan Athletic	8	0	1	7	6	15	1	-9
17	Bolton	8	0	0	8	4	18	0	-14
18	Portsmouth	8	0	0	8	2	16	0	-14
19	Blackburn Rovers	8	0	0	8	2	23	0	-21
20	West Brom	8	0	0	8	1	23	0	-22

Next we take a look at goals scored. While we didn't score nearly as many as we did last season (71 v 54) we still did quite well and once again thanks to our counter-attacking style we flourished away from home. Overall, we came 7th being beaten by all the teams who finished above us in the league table plus Man City who were phenomenal at home and total muck on the road. We managed to split our goals 50-50 between home and away games which equated to being 8th in the home table where Fulham over-performed and we were top 4 material away from home even beating Man United although we were all a long way behind Arsenal, Liverpool & Chelsea.

P	Top scorers	Total (h, a)		P	HOME	Goals		P	AWAY	Goals
1	Liverpool	77 (41,36)		1	Man United	43		1	Arsenal	37
2	Man United	68 (43,25)		2	Liverpool	41		2	Liverpool	36
2	Chelsea	68 (33,35)		3	Man City	40		3	Chelsea	35
2	Arsenal	68 (31,37)		4	Chelsea	33		4	ASTON VILLA	27
5	Man City	58 (40,18)		5	Everton	31		5	Man United	25
6	Everton	55 (31,24)		5	Arsenal	31		6	Tottenham	24
7	ASTON VILLA	54 (27,27)		7	Fulham	28		6	Everton	24
8	Tottenham	45 (21,24)		8	ASTON VILLA	27		8	Hull City	21
9	West Ham United	42 (23,19)		9	West Brom	26		9	Bolton	20
10	Bolton	41 (21,20)		9	Portsmouth	26		10	West Ham United	19
11	Blackburn Rovers	40 (22,18)		11	Newcastle United	24		11	Man City	18
11	Newcastle United	40 (24,16)		12	West Ham United	23		11	Blackburn Rovers	18
13	Fulham	39 (28,11)		13	Stoke City	22		13	Wigan Athletic	17
13	Hull City	39 (18,21)		13	Blackburn Rovers	22		14	Stoke City	16
15	Stoke City	38 (22,16)		15	Tottenham	21		14	Newcastle United	16
15	Portsmouth	38 (26,12)		15	Sunderland	21		16	Sunderland	13
17	West Brom	36 (26,10)		15	Bolton	21		17	Portsmouth	12
18	Wigan Athletic	34 (17,17)		18	Hull City	18		18	Middlesbrough	11
18	Sunderland	34 (21,13)		19	Wigan Athletic	17		18	Fulham	11
20	Middlesbrough	28 (17,11)		19	Middlesbrough	17		20	West Brom	10

In terms of goals conceded we were poor relative to where we finished in the league table. A mediocre showing of 10th place overall even if we 'shored up' our defence by a mighty 3 goals from 51 down to 48. Even Spurs somehow managed to concede fewer goals! At home we were particularly leaky, owing to the fact that the team struggled to retain possession when teams came and sat waiting for us to do the work. As a result we shipped 21 goals at Villa Park, more than double that of league leading Spurs who only shipped a paltry 10 at White Hart Lane. Spare a thought for Hull who conceded more at home than anyone else and more at home than 4 teams did for the entire season (yet somehow they stay up...). Away from home we figured marginally better. We conceded 27 goals which puts us joint 8th overall. Everton & Fulham were particularly tight away from home this season and West Ham's defence showed good form away from Upton Park. Stoke come bottom of the heap conceding a massive 40 goals away from the Brittania. This is an area Villa will definitely be looking to improve upon in the summer especially with the loss of Super Mart through injury.

P	TOP DEFENCES	Tot (h, a)		P	HOME	Goals		P	AWAY	Goals
1	Chelsea	24 (12,12)		1	Tottenham	10		1	Man United	11
1	Man United	24 (13,11)		2	Chelsea	12		2	Chelsea	12
3	Liverpool	27 (13,14)		3	Liverpool	13		3	Liverpool	14
4	Fulham	34 (16,18)		3	Man United	13		4	Everton	17
5	Everton	37 (20,17)		5	Stoke City	15		5	Fulham	18
5	Arsenal	37 (16,21)		6	Fulham	16		6	Arsenal	21
7	Wigan Athletic	45 (18,27)		6	Arsenal	16		7	West Ham United	23
7	West Ham United	45 (22,23)		8	Wigan Athletic	18		8	Wigan Athletic	27
7	Tottenham	45 (10,35)		8	Man City	18		8	ASTON VILLA	27
10	ASTON VILLA	48 (21,27)		10	Middlesbrough	20		10	Hull City	28
11	Man City	50 (18,32)		10	Everton	20		10	Portsmouth	28
12	Bolton	53 (21,32)		12	Bolton	21		12	Sunderland	29
13	Sunderland	54 (25,29)		12	ASTON VILLA	21		13	Newcastle United	30
14	Stoke City	55 (15,40)		14	West Ham United	22		14	Bolton	32
15	Middlesbrough	57 (20,37)		15	Blackburn Rovers	23		14	Man City	32
15	Portsmouth	57 (29,28)		16	Sunderland	25		16	West Brom	34
17	Newcastle United	59 (29,30)		17	Newcastle United	29		17	Tottenham	35
18	Blackburn Rovers	60 (23,37)		17	Portsmouth	29		18	Middlesbrough	37
19	Hull City	64 (36,28)		19	West Brom	33		18	Blackburn Rovers	37
20	West Brom	67 (33,34)		20	Hull City	36		20	Stoke City	40

The 'clean sheet' table isn't always a mirror image of the goals conceded table. Some teams have a knack of having 'one of those days' where nothing goes in, then they let in a hatful on another day. We are pretty decent at keeping clean sheets to be fair. Even though we are capable of going months without keeping one. We finished joint 7th overall this season with 13 clean sheets, 11 behind the Champions and rather annoyingly behind Fulham who were even more stingy away from home than at home. Our 7 home clean sheets puts us joint 10th in midtable with the Champions once again leading the way with 13 and teams like Stoke, Wigan & Man City finishing ahead of us in a season where they could only seem to perform in their own backyard while we could only perform in everyone elses. We come an impressive 6th in the away clean sheet table getting more than even Arsenal. Only 'the big 3' with Everton & Fulham get more away sheets than us.

P	CLEAN SHEETS	Tot (h, a)		P	HOME	#		P	AWAY	#
1	Man United	24 (13, 11)		1	Man United	13		1	Chelsea	12
2	Chelsea	22 (10, 12)		2	Tottenham	11		2	Man United	11
3	Liverpool	20 (11, 9)		2	Liverpool	11		3	Liverpool	9
4	Everton	17 (8, 9)		2	Arsenal	11		3	Everton	9
5	Arsenal	16 (11, 5)		5	Chelsea	10		5	Fulham	8
6	Fulham	15 (7, 8)		6	Stoke City	9		6	ASTON VILLA	6
7	Wigan Athletic	13 (8, 5)		6	Man City	9		7	Wigan Athletic	5
7	Tottenham	13 (11, 2)		8	Wigan Athletic	8		7	West Ham United	5
7	ASTON VILLA	13 (7, 6)		8	Everton	8		7	Portsmouth	5
10	Stoke City	12 (9, 3)		10	Fulham	7		7	Arsenal	5
11	West Ham United	10 (5, 5)		10	Blackburn Rovers	7		11	West Brom	4
11	Man City	10 (9, 1)		10	ASTON VILLA	7		11	Hull City	4
11	Blackburn Rovers	10 (7, 3)		13	Sunderland	6		13	Sunderland	3
14	Sunderland	9 (6, 3)		13	Middlesbrough	6		13	Stoke City	3
15	West Brom	8 (4, 4)		15	West Ham United	5		13	Newcastle United	3
15	Portsmouth	8 (3, 5)		15	Bolton	5		13	Blackburn Rovers	3
17	Newcastle United	7 (4, 3)		17	West Brom	4		17	Tottenham	2
17	Middlesbrough	7 (6, 1)		17	Newcastle United	4		17	Bolton	2
17	Bolton	7 (5, 2)		19	Portsmouth	3		19	Middlesbrough	1
20	Hull City	6 (2, 4)		20	Hull City	2		19	Man City	1

To get a clean sheet, someone else must fail to score. So now we look at which teams were nice enough to shoot blanks for their opponents most often. While I sort this from most to least, I have numbered it worst to best because clearly it is best if you fail to score the fewest times in a season. Last season we were particularly good at scoring in every game having only failed on 6 occasions, 2 at home and 4 away. In the three leagues (overall, home, away) that was good enough to be 4th in each of them. This season however, we failed to score on 10 occasions which is bettered by 5 teams. No co-incidence that it is the 5 who finished above us in the league. 6 times at home we failed to score which is actually very poor. Only 4 teams did worse than that. Away from home we failed 4 times which is fantastic as it is only bettered by 2 teams in the whole league and they are the 2 who contested the league title. So once again our away form is very impressive. Long may we keep it up.

P	FAILED TO SCORE IN	Tot (h, a)		P	HOME	#		P	AWAY	#
20	Bolton	18 (8,10)		18	West Ham United	8		19	West Brom	12
17	Wigan Athletic	17 (7,10)		18	Middlesbrough	8		19	Fulham	12
17	West Brom	17 (5,12)		18	Bolton	8		17	Sunderland	11
17	Middlesbrough	17 (8,9)		17	Wigan Athletic	7		17	Portsmouth	11
14	Sunderland	16 (5,11)		13	Tottenham	6		15	Wigan Athletic	10
14	Portsmouth	16 (5,11)		13	Hull City	6		15	Bolton	10
14	Fulham	16 (4,12)		13	Blackburn Rovers	6		13	Middlesbrough	9
13	Blackburn Rovers	15 (6,9)		13	ASTON VILLA	6		13	Blackburn Rovers	9
12	West Ham United	14 (8,6)		9	West Brom	5		11	Newcastle United	8
9	Stoke City	12 (5,7)		9	Sunderland	5		11	Man City	8
9	Newcastle United	12 (4,8)		9	Stoke City	5		10	Stoke City	7
9	Hull City	12 (6,6)		9	Portsmouth	5		8	West Ham United	6
6	Tottenham	10 (6,4)		4	Newcastle United	4		8	Hull City	6
6	Man City	10 (2,8)		4	Fulham	4		7	Everton	5
6	ASTON VILLA	10 (6,4)		4	Everton	4		3	Tottenham	4
5	Everton	9 (4,5)		4	Chelsea	4		3	Chelsea	4
3	Chelsea	8 (4,4)		4	Arsenal	4		3	ASTON VILLA	4
3	Arsenal	8 (4,4)		3	Liverpool	3		3	Arsenal	4
2	Liverpool	6 (3,3)		2	Man City	2		1	Man United	3
1	Man United	4 (1,3)		1	Man United	1		1	Liverpool	3

Getting towards the end now.

The following tables detail firstly how many goals were scored at each stadium in the league this season and secondly how many goals were scored in the games involving each team; in other words who was involved in the most entertaining games to see. Villa Park, unsurprisingly, is pretty average in terms of goals scored as it comes 9th overall. Though Villa were 6th in goals per game as their games averaged 2.68 goals per game. Fulham were bottom (shock horror) on less than 2 goals per game and Man City (shock horror) were top with 2.84.

P	GOALS IN STADIUM	GOALS		P	GOALS PER GAME INVOLVING...	GPG
1	The Hawthorns	59		1	Man City	2.84
2	City of Manchester Stadium	58		2	Arsenal	2.76
3	Old Trafford	56		3	Liverpool	2.74
4	Fratton Park	55		4	Hull City	2.71
5	Anfield	54		4	West Brom	2.71
5	KC Stadium	54		6	ASTON VILLA	2.68
7	St. James' Park	53		7	Blackburn Rovers	2.63
8	Goodison Park	51		8	Newcastle United	2.61
9	Villa Park	48		9	Portsmouth	2.50
10	Emirates Stadium	47		10	Bolton	2.47
11	Stadium of Light	46		11	Stoke City	2.45
12	Upton Park	45		12	Man United	2.42
12	Stamford Bridge	45		12	Chelsea	2.42
12	Ewood Park	45		12	Everton	2.42
15	Craven Cottage	44		15	Tottenham	2.37
16	Reebok Stadium	42		16	Sunderland	2.32
17	Brittania Stadium	37		17	West Ham United	2.29
17	Riverside	37		18	Middlesbrough	2.24
19	JJB Stadium	35		19	Wigan Athletic	2.08
20	White Hart Lane	31		20	Fulham	1.92

Finally the average attendance table. This is always pretty predictable as the figures are restricted be the attendance of the stadium. Perhaps it would be better to show a table of percentage full, though that favours tiny grounds that can fill easy. Anyhoo, for what it's worth, here it is and though we have a good sized stadium, we are pretty average with our average attendance.

P	TEAM	AVE ATT
1	Man United	75,304
2	Arsenal	60,040
3	Newcastle United	48,750
4	Liverpool	43,611
5	Man City	43,162
6	Chelsea	41,588
7	Sunderland	40,163
8	ASTON VILLA	39,812
9	Tottenham	35,929
10	Everton	35,667
11	West Ham United	34,227
12	Middlesbrough	28,429
13	Stoke City	26,960
14	West Brom	25,828
15	Hull City	24,816
16	Fulham	24,340
17	Blackburn Rovers	23,481
18	Bolton	22,486
19	Portsmouth	19,830
20	Wigan Athletic	18,350

Well I hope you enjoyed this look back at how we did and how everyone else did in comparison. These figures and rankings might even settle some arguments in the pub now. You never know

[OutByEaster?]

Genius!

Thanks BOF.

One thing I notice is that the big four are very unforgiving of teams in the lower reaches. We could benefit from replicating their cruelty.

[ED]

We're down on pretty much everything from last season bar away form really aren't we? Oh, and points

[OutByEaster?]

Here's a number where we went up:

17 cup games last season compared to 3 the previous season.

That might be the most important number from last year.

[BOF]

We're down on pretty much everything from last season bar away form really aren't we? Oh, and points

No I don't think we are, but even if that was true, isn't that a bit like being down on every stat during a match, except for goals scored? Everything is ultimately geared towards the points you get over a season. The rest is just useless stats

[Jon]

	1 - 13				14 - 26				27-38
P	TEAM	Pts		P	TEAM	Pts		P	TEAM	Pts
1	Chel	32		1	Manc	35		1	Live	31
2	Live	32		2	AVFC	28		2	Chel	31
3	ManU	27		3	Live	23		3	ManU	28
4	Arse	23		4	Ever	22		4	Arse	27
5	AVFC	23		5	Wign	22		5	Tott	23
6	Hull	21		6	Arse	22		6	Ever	22
7	Ever	19		7	Chel	20		7	Fulh	20
8	Boro	18		8	WHU	19		8	Stok	20
9	Port	18		9	ManC	18		9	ManC	18
10	Fulm	17		10	Fulm	16		10	WHU	18
11	Sund	15		11	Sund	16		11	Blac	15
12	ManC	14		12	Tott	16		12	Port	13
13	Bolt	14		13	Bolt	16		13	Bolt	11
14	WHU	14		14	Newc	15		14	AVFC	11
15	Stok	14		15	Blac	13		15	WBA	10
16	Wign	13		16	Stok	11		16	Wign	10
17	Newc	13		17	WBA	11		17	Boro	9
18	Blac	13		18	Port	10		18	Hull	6
19	Tott	12		19	Hull	8		19	Newc	6
20	WBA	11		20	Boro	5		20	Sund	5

I know Citeh are trying to take over the world with the new Sheiks at the helm, but having them with 2 teams at 1st and 9th in the 14-26 category is a bit greedy for anyone ..... :winkold:

[sled]

Fulham should see about scoring some goals away from home. Look at their defence away from the Cottage, then look at the number of points they got.

[rjw63]

[BOF]

If I didn't do it you'd all miss it Rob

[BOF]

I know Citeh are trying to take over the world with the new Sheiks at the helm, but having them with 2 teams at 1st and 9th in the 14-26 category is a bit greedy for anyone ..... :winkold:

Cheers for the eagly eye Jon

[rjw63]

Too **** right we would! :-)

[TRO]

We're down on pretty much everything from last season bar away form really aren't we? Oh, and points

..... well thats progress for ya.