Opening game : Brazil vs Croatia

Published on by firstgoalscorer Category: World Cup

Draw/Brazil (halftime/fulltime): @11/4

The opening game is huge – Brazil playing back in Brazil at the world cup finals. I think it will start off slightly cagey, Croatia will not want to concede early but will be unlikely to want to commit forward too much and afford the hosts too much space in the middle of the pitch. Brazil will look to open the game up in the final third, but might find this difficult and revert to a slightly more rigid shape, although will most likely get a few chances. The second half will obviously require Brazil to go on and win the game, which you would ultimately expect to happen. It’s a gamble, hoping that Croatia will hold out until half time and that the break will signal the start of Brazil’s intent to push on and get the ball into the box. But I think it will take a half for the tempo of the game, which should initially be restricted to a low-intensity midfield battle, to pick up and mistakes to be made. Draw in the first half also covers the 1-1, incase the deadlock is broken early, in which case you would expect the other team to chase more intently. 11/4 appears like the best value in the ht/ft market to me. Could cover this with Brazil to win the match 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2 @7/2 in case of an early goal.

The opening game in a World Cup isn’t really a great opportunity for betting, considering the fact that both teams are under pressure and are playing new opponents. No-one really knows how either side intend to lineup or play, and in terms of available bets its often a better option to wait until the match has kicked off and bet in-play.

A Few World Cup Ante Post Bets

Published on by firstgoalscorer Category: World Cup

Highest Scoring Team: Argentina @3/1

Argentina have one of, if not the best, attacking force in the competition. They will likely have Higuain, Messi and Aguero all occupying attacking positions, along with Di Maria who will get forward and add creativity despite potentially holding a slightly deeper role. Mascherano and, to some extent, his midfield partner Gago will hold back to protect the defence. This could easily stretch the game and leave gaps in midfield. This doesn’t necessarily bode well for Argentina at the back, but it should ensure a fast pace and an open game in which there will surely be goals. They have Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iran and Nigeria in their group, which points towards goals, particularly against the latter two. You’d expect Argentina to concede as well, but I think they will definitely be up their with the highest scorers, particularly as I think they should go far in the competition.

Semi-finalists: Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal @85/1

First of all, I think Spain have been slightly overlooked by many, and remain huge contenders in my eyes. Their participation in the semi-finals doesn’t look hugely in doubt for me. If they win their group, it is likely they will face Croatia or Mexico in the next round, then Uruguay/England/Italy in the Quarters. Brazil, being hosts, have huge pressure on them, but you’d expect them to make the Semis. They don’t have a particularly difficult run to the last four and it’ll be a huge shock if they don’t get there. Argentina have a relatively easy group of which they are expected to top. In the next round they would likely play Switzerland or Ecuador, providing France top that group. This should set up a quarter-final with either Belgium, Portugal or Germany. However the gamble in this bet mainly comes in risking that Portgual top their group ahead of Germany. If Germany top the group, then Portugal will most likely be in Argentina’s half and thus play them before the Semis meaning the bet is lost. But if Portugal do top the group, which I think is possible considering they have a strong squad and usually do well in tournaments, they set up a probable meeting with France in the quaters which I think is definitely winnable. An outside bet for sure, but I think 85/1 is god odds – if Portugal top their group then it suddenly becomes a lot more likely to come in. For a safer bet, replace Portgual with Germany @16/1

Top Goalscorer: Karim Benzema @25/1

France have a group in which you would expect them to score goals. Ecuador & Switzerland have the potential to do well this World Cup, but its unlikely they will both concede less than 2 against France, and Honduras are pretty physical but not expected to progress. France will have a first-knockout round that should consist of Bosnia, whom could pose problems but you’d expect France to be scoring there. Benzema, although occasionally being moved out wide to accommodate Giroud in Ribery’s absence, should feature heavily in France’s games. I think he will start up top, possibly alongside Giroud but more likely in his place. He’s been in lethal form for Madrid this season and can act as a poacher, is an aerial threat, and has the ability to bang in a shot from difficult situations. He looks likely to be France’s main goal threat. I think that 25/1 is generous, although you’d probably be looking at needing a good group stage.

Diego Costa @22/1

Spain will surely benefit from having a target man in this tournament and, providing he stays fit, you would expect Diego Costa to be the finisher. He’s been in fantastic form this season and his physical presence, aerial ability and threat in the box should give Spain a new dimension for them to exploit and get goals when they need them most. I’d expect Costa to be the main lone striker, and have the greatest share of goalscoring chances, with some fantastic creativity coming in for him from midfield. Spain haven’t always scored a large amount of goals at major tournaments, with 1-0 seeming to be enough for them to switch off their attacking intent and preferring to hold onto the ball in some games. However, the inclusion of Costa in the starting line-up would indicate an intent to use him as ‘the goalscorer’. 22/1 is decent for a team that I would expect to make the semis at the very least.

 

 

Bundesliga Review 2013/14

Published on by firstgoalscorer Category: Germany

bayern

Title Winners: Bayern Munich (90 points)
Top Scorer: Robert Lewandowski (20 goals)
Champions League qualification: Bayern, Dortmund, Schalke, Leverkusen
Europa League qualification: Wolfsberg, Monchengladbach, Mainz
Relegation: Braunschweig, Nurnberg

Pre-season odds in August 2013:
Title winners – Bayern Munich @9/2, Dortmund @11/2, Leverkusen @25/1
Top four finish – Wolfsburg @6/1, Stuttgart @6/1
Favourites for relegation – Braunschweig, Augsberg, Nurnberg
Top goalscorer – Lewandowski @5/2, Kiessling @4/1, Mandzukic @6/1, Huntelaar @8/1

For many, the main story of the Bundesliga this season will be the dominance of Bayern. Their solidarity and consistency in accumulating points was relentless, and they ultimately went on to clinch the title in March – becoming the first Bundesliga side to do so. Pep Guardiola’s side continued their run of unbeaten league games to 53, at which point it finally came to an end after a 1-0 defeat to Augsberg. The following week they also lost 3-0 at home to Dortmund, which was only slight retribution for Klopp, as his team finished the season 19 points adrift, and also lost the Pokal final to Bayern in extra-time.

Its hard to pick out a main reason for Bayern’s dominance. The depth of quality they had in the squad was evident throughout and they could cover suspensions and injuries much better through rotation than other sides. Their defence was solid, with Dante, Boateng both having a good season and Alaba showing his talent also. Their midfielders, as you would expect with a Guardiola side, kept possession to an incredible degree with the philosophy of Pep obviously suiting the German champions with the technical ability proven by the players. Ribery , although only starting 18 games, was fantastic with 10 goals and 10 assists, along with Robben who also had a standout season. Bayern ended up scoring 94 goals in their 34 games – a tremendous achievement.

Dortmund struggled to keep up their form of recent seasons, their campaign being repeatedly thrown into difficulty with injuries to key players. Injury to Nevan  Subotic broke up his defensive pairing with Hummels, who in turn suffered problems of his own. Sokratis was a vital replacement and ended up playing 24 games in the league, performing very well. Their defensive ‘anchors’ Sven Bender and captain Kehl were kept out for periods, along with their deep-lying playmaker and key man Ilkay Gundogan who was out for the whole season. Sahin was one huge saving grace for Klopp in central midfield; he had an excellent season. Their two wing-backs Schmelzer and Piszczek also only played around half the matches and Blaszczykowski suffering cruciate ligament damage keeping him out long-term. Their stand-out player was Marco Reus, along with Bayern-bound Lewandowski who came up with 20 league goals and I thought that Aubameyang had an impressive first season in Germany with 13 goals. Despite their injury problems and patchy form, Dortmund still looked like the next best after Bayern most of the way through the campaign.

The final Champions League places went to Schalke and Leverkusen. Schalke had a relatively poor start to the season with early losses against Wolfsburg and Hannover, put picked up their form to have a good second half of the season, beyond which point they never really looked in much doubt for a Champions League place. Conversely, Leverkusen won 9 out of their first 12 games, having a fantastic start and then just completely dropping off around Christmas and after the winter break, with only 3 wins in 14 games in the middle of the season. They looked in real danger of missing out of the Champions League all together. Only a final push, with some relatively comfortable fixtures in the remaining 5 games lead them to 4th place – 1 point ahead of Wolfsburg.

Mochengladbach, although having an impressive season, suffered a similar dip in form in the middle of the season around the winter break, going 9 games without a win. They only managed to turn things around after a huge 2-1 win at Dortmund, with Raffael proving his importance to the side after having a fantastic game. The partnership of him and Kruse was key to their season – they started all 34 games together. Wolfsburg, after a sketchy start, had a great season which ended in 5th place. They secured key victories in the middle of the season against the likes of Dortmund, Leverkusen and Mainz as well as a final day win over Monchengladbach. Their stand-out performers were probably both defensive members of the team, being Ricardo Rodriguez and Naldo. Olic, Perisic and de Bruyne being attacking notables.

A team which really impressed me this season were Mainz. They were slightly inconsistent, and went through a tough in September, but ultimately finished the campaign just inside the Europa League places in 7th, which is a fantastic achievement for them. They never really beat any of the big sides in amazing performances, but they picked up points against team around them. Choupo-Moting and Okazaki were particularly impressive going forward, along with Nicolai Muller who had a tremendous start to the campaign. It’ll be interesting to see how heavily Choupo-Moting and Okazaki will feature on the World Cup and whether or not Mainz can continue their form into next season with European football to contend with.

The fight against relegation was particularly close in the end, with neither Nurnberg or Braunschweig looking like they had the ability to stay up, but only ending up 1 point and 2 points (respectively) beneath the drop. The team above them, who narrowly avoided relegation via a tough playoff win, was Hamburg. They had a shocking season by their standards, and wouldn’t have been major candidates for the drop until their form proved otherwise in the second half of the season. Whilst Lasogga and Calhanoglu impressed me, having a good season in front of goal, it was clearly their defence which was lacking – they conceded the most goals in the Bundesliga. A quick word on Hoffenheim who only conceded 5 fewer goals, but finished 9th because of their high scoring games. Both teams to score bets in Hoffenheim games were incredibly short odds and they went on an incredible run of games with goals. All-in-all an exciting season.

Statistics
Total goals: 967
Penalties scored: 64
Clean sheets: 134
Minutes per goal: Claudio Pizarro (68mins), Mario Mandzukic (112mins), P-M Lasogga (114mins), K-J Huntelaar (112mins), Anthony Modeste (136mins)
Pass completion: Toni Kroos (91.9%), Philipp Lahm (91.7%), Dante (91.5%), Tony Jantschke (90.1%), Rafinha (89.9%)
Average passes per game: Bastian Schweinsteiger (85), Philipp Lahm (79.8), Jerome Boateng (78.9), Toni Kross (75.5), Dante (75.4)
Key passes per game: Marco Reus (3), Max Kruse (2.9), Gonzalo Castro (2.6), Rafael van der Vaart (2.6), Franck Ribery (2.5)
Clean sheets: Manuel Neuer (14), Ralf Fahrmann (10), Roman Weidenfeller (10), M-A ter Stegen (9), Kevin Trapp (8)

La Liga Review 2013/14

Published on by firstgoalscorer Category: Spain

atletico

 

Title Winners: Atletico Madrid (90 points)
Top Scorer: Cristiano Ronaldo (31 goals)
Champions League qualification: Atletico M, Real M, Barcelona, A Bilbao
Europa League qualification: Sevilla, Villarreal, Real Sociedad
Relegation: Betis, Valladolid, Osasuna

Pre-season odds in August 2013:
Title winners – Barcelona @3/4, Real Madrid @11/8, Atletico @66/1
Top four finish – Atletico @1/3, Athletic Bilbao @6/1
Top goalscorer – Messi @8/13, Ronaldo @11/8, Neymar @16/1, Benzema @40/1
Relegation – Elche @5/6, Villarreal @7/2, Almeria @5/6, Osasuna @9/4, Valladolid @3/1, Betis @12/1

The big theme of La Liga this season was the emergence of Atletico Madrid as a force, not just in Spain, but in Europe. I remember being very close to putting a bet on Atletico to win the Champions League towards the end of the group stages when they were 16/1. Even then it was hard to see them losing games. Their consistency was incredible, and this was proven not just on paper but in their performances on the pitch. The tactical and motivational abilities of Simeone were second to none, their shape and awareness on the field of play was fantastic throughout the season and the work-rate and straight-up desire to win matches ultimately won them the league title. You can argue that Real and Barca were dropping points and ‘gifting’ the league to Atleti, which in some ways was true towards the end, but its hard for anyone to argue that Simeone’s side didn’t deserve the crown after the improvement they’ve shown. Only last year people were talking about the dominance of the top two in Spain and the insurmountable task of breaking that Real/Barca stranglehold on the division.

This season was arguably less about individual performances for the top sides, and more about consistency and cohesion. Messi and Ronaldo, although still obviously hugely influential, didn’t quite have the same impact as the previous record breaking seasons. To mention a few notable individuals, I would pick out Alexis Sanchez who improved on a rather mediocre season the year before, to chip in with valuable goals and assists. Bale had an impressive first season in Spain, one in which many (harshly) thought could easily turn into a flop. I think that Modric had a fantastic campaign and was perhaps the one that had a stand out season. Diego Costa was the main man for Atletico Madrid in terms of attacking threat and goalscoring prowess, although it was largely the work of Miranda and Godin, along with the leadership of Gabi that impressed me.

I was slightly disappointed with the inconsistency of Real Sociedad, after their 4th place last season and inclusion in the Champions League, they struggled this year. Despite finishing in the Europa League spot in 7th, they gave away silly points, particularly away from home, and never really picked up the same momentum they had last time around. Griezmann was again a star performer, earning himself a place in the French World Cup squad. I think whilst Vela is still impressing with 16 goals and 12 assists, Xabi Prieto’s influence has waned and the back four (+ Bravo) haven’t had a brilliant season with the likes of the two Martinez’s not showing the same kind of form we were used to last year.

In terms of the other European places, Athletic Bilbao took the 4th Champions League spot after having a very decent season. Aduriz bagged himself 16 league goals, Susaeta was a creative force with 12 assists along with an ever improving Ander Herrera who is putting in some much more consistent performances. Muniain continues to show a constant standard greater than one you might expect of someone his age and Ibai Gomez always impresses me when we see him – having a great impact from the bench with 8 league goals. They will go into the Champions League playoffs for next season, although if they make it into the group stages I think they may struggle with the extra games and their Basque recruitment policy may not help their squad too much over the summer.

Villarreal started the season newly promoted as the surprise performers, racing into the top four in the early stages. Their style of counter-attacking low possession football was incredibly effective. I remember their away game against Rayo in which Villarreal won 5-2 with only 30% possession. However they faded away slightly, after a patchy second half of the season, ultimately finishing in 6th place, level with Sociedad on points. Sevilla had an incredible season. They capped it off with a Europa League win and a 5th place finish in the league. They handled their fixtures superbly and, despite a poor spell in January, they showed great consistency. Their stand out players were Bacca with 14 league goals, and the hugely impressive Ivan Rakitic with 12 goals and 10 assists (not to mention what I reckon was pass of the season in the latter stages of the Europa League final). He will hopefully feature heavily in Croatia’s World Cup campaign.

The relegation fight this season was relatively close, with two of the newly promoted sides – Elche and Almeria escaping narrowly, 1 point above the drop zone. It became obvious pretty early into the season that the other newly promoted side Villarreal would be more likely to finish in the top half of the table than the bottom. Betis, who were 12/1 to go down before the season got underway, ended up being cut well adrift and looked down and out reasonably early. Valladolid simply drew too many games – 15 in total – which saw them finish 19th, although Javi Guerra finished the season with 15 league goals. Osasuna didn’t come out of it much better, although only a point from safety. Their top scorer was Oriol Riera who ended up on 13 goals for the campaign.

Statistics:
Total goals: 1045
Penalties scored: 80
Clean sheets: 233
Minutes per goal: Alvaro Morata (62mins), Cristiano Ronaldo (82mins), Ibai Gomez (85mins), Lionel Messi (93mins), Diego Costa (111mins)
Pass completion: Xavi (93%), Sergio Busquets (92.5%), Andres Iniesta (90.7%), Gerard Pique (90.2%), Marc Bartra (89.9%), Luka Modric (89.7%)
Average passes per game: Xavi (86.2), Roberto Trashorras (79.4), Sergio Busquets (76.7), Dani Alves (69.6), Xabi Alonso (65.6), Dani Parejo (64)
Key passes per game: Angel di Maria (2.7), Lionel Messi (2.4), Roberto Trashorras (2.3), Ivan Rakitic (2.3), Isco (2.2), Duda (2.2)
Clean sheets: Thibaut Courtois (19), Keylor Navas (15), Diego Lopez (15), Victor Valdez (12), Willy Caballero (11)

Serie A Review 2013/14

Published on by firstgoalscorer Category: Italy

juvefans

Title Winners – Juventus (102 points)
Top Scorer – Ciro Immobile (22 goals)
Champions League qualification – Juventus, Roma, Napoli
Europa League qualification – Fiorentina, Inter, Torino*
Relegation – Livorno, Bologna, Catania

*Parma took 6th place ahead of Torino, but are banned from European football next season as it stands due to financial regulations. There is a chance that their ban will be overturned.

Pre-season odds in August 2013:
Title winners – Juventus @5/6, AC Milan @5/1, Napoli @8/1, Inter @14/1
Relegation – Livorno @10/11, Sassuolo @20/19, Verona @11/8
Top goalscorers – Balotelli @3/1, Higuain @5/1, Di Natale @8/1

The start of the campaign was dominated by Roma, after winning ten games on the bounce, it seemed like they had established themselves as genuine title contenders. Their challenge continued throughout the season, only to be outdone by the ever-consistent Juve. Although the champions ended 17 points clear, for the most part the scudetto was a two-horse race. New signings Strootman, Ljajic and Gervinho all impressed, but for me the stand out performances came from Mehdi Benatia and his defensive partner Leandro Castan. Their defence was rock-solid, conceding 25 goals in the season, and only 1 in the first 10 games. Pjanic and Totti were pulling strings, particularly in the early parts of the season, with the latter on 6 assists after 6 games.

The gap in quality (and points until the latter stages) between fourth and fifth in Serie A was especially noticeable. Napoli had pretty much established themselves as 3rd place candidates from the start, with Fiorentina hoping to mount a challenge for that 3rd and final Champions League place. Alas, Montella’s men never really got on a par with Rafa’s side, and although beating them 1-0 at the San Paolo in March thanks to a late goal, they were destined for the Europa League.

The struggle for the other Europa League places for 4th, 5th and 6th was contested throughout the season by a number of teams. Parma, Torino, Inter were joined in the race by Milan, Lazio, Verona and Atalanta. Both Milan sides arguably underachieved, particularly AC, with their slightly ‘transitional’ and makeshift squad in the wake of the departure of many of their more experienced stars and a long injury list. Balotelli, when available looked slightly under-par at times and, particularly towards the end of the season, was in poor form. A notable absence was El Shaarwary, who was out for the majority of a season in which could have been his break-through year. Inter faired slightly better, with only 1 loss in their opening 15 games. However, their problem was the sheer number of draws (15), and they inevitably fell short of a challenge to the top four despite a pretty solid campaign.

Parma and Torino impressed, in what was a season that helped enhance their reputation and make a push for European participation. Parma were helped largely by the 17 game unbeaten run they went on in the middle of the season. The Gialloblu had a reasonably strong defence, with Lucarelli having a good season and Paletta earning a call up to Italy’s World Cup squad along with Marco Parolo and Antonio Cassano who had a fantastic influence on his team’s season. Torino, after a shakey start, based they success largely on their home form once again. The attacking talents of Alessio Cerci and Serie A top scorer Ciro Immobile helped their cause greatly, earning both of them call-ups to Italy’s national squad for the World Cup, alongside the uncapped Matteo Darmian in defence.

Two sides that impressed me this season were Verona and Atalanta. Verona, being a newly promoted side, were never really expecting to push for Europe, but were hovering around 4th in the table a couple of months in. Their challenge faded away towards the end of the campaign, but they still achieved a respectable 10th place in Serie A. Stand out personnel in their season included 37 year old Italian veteran Luca Toni, who netted 20 league goals, as well as Argentian winger Juan Iturbe. Jorginho earned himself a January move to Napoli after a fantastic start to the season, which inevitably damaged Hellas’ season. Atalanta wouldn’t have sprung out to many as having an outstanding season, but I was impressed with the way they fought at times. Their season was distinctly average at best, until they went on a run of 6 wins in March to ignite their quest for Europe… which died a death shortly after. All the same, I thought that Bonaventura and Consigli might have done enough for a World Cup call up, Cigarini was impressive also.

The relegation battle was reasonably hotly contested. Sassuolo looked doomed from the start, but then started to turn their fortunes around after a 7-0 thrashing from Inter, they switched their formation and began to climb away from the bottom of the table. Sansone and Berardi were notable performers, and their side finished the season well, Berardi with 3 spectacular performances in the season – two hat-tricks against Sampdoria and Fiorentina, and four goals against Milan. Catania were a side who struggled throughout, with a ridiculous away record of not winning until the final day, drawing 2 others and losing 16. They made a fight for it at the end, including a remarkable 4-1 win against Roma, but it came too late. Livorno lost 9 of their last 10, and Bologna only won 1 of their last 15.

All in all, I think that Serie A has done itself some favours in enhancing its reputation on the European stage this season, despite being overtaken by Portugal in UEFA’s coefficient rankings. Juve’s disappointing exit in the Champions League groups stage along with Napoli did them no favours, and AC Milan fell at Diego Simeone’s Atletico sword in the first knockout round. However, there have been some incredible performances this season – notable players for me, aside the ones already mentioned, include: Antonio di Natale who scored 17 goals and made 29 starts at 36 years old, including a final day hat-trick against Sampdoria. Radja Nainggolan who had a fantastic start to the season with Cagliari, before his move to Roma in January. His work rate and energy in midfield is incredible and he covered fantastically for the loss to injury of Kevin Strootman. Juan Cuadrado with 11 goals showed his versatility by playing a number of different positions and always providing the pace and attacking threat that Fiorentina needed on the break. It’ll be exciting to see him at the World Cup for Colombia.

Statistics:
Total goals: 1035
Penalties scored: 102
Clean sheets: 218
Minutes per goal: Mattia Destro (91 mins), Giuseppe Rossi (96 mins), Ciro Immobile (119 mins)
Pass completion: Matias Fernandez (92.8%), Emiliano Moretti (91.7%), Kamil Glik (91.7%), Nigel de Jong (91.4%), Andrea Barzagli (91.2%)
Average passes per game: Daniele de Rossi (73.8), Andrea Pirlo (69), Giorgio Chiellini (68.3), David Pizarro (67.4), Daniele Conti (67.3)
Key passes per game: Antonio Cassano (2.7), Alessandro Diamanti (2.6), Borja Valero (2.5), Francesco Totti (2.5), Luca Cigarini (2.4)
Clean sheets: Morgan de Sanctis (20), Gianluigi Buffon (18), Samir Handanovic (13), Neto (12), Mattia Perin (11)

Premiership Review 2013/14

Published on by firstgoalscorer Category: England

premtoty

Title Winners – Manchester City (86 points)

Top Scorer – Luis Suarez (31 goals)

Champions League qualification – Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal

Europa League qualification – Everton, Tottenham, Hull

Relegation – Norwich, Fulham, Cardiff

 

Pre-season odds in August 2013:

Title winners – Man City @9/4, Chelsea @9/4, Man United @5/2, Arsenal @10/1, Liverpool @25/1

Relegation – Crystal Palace @4/7, Hull @5/7, Cardiff @9/5, Norwich @5/2, Fulham @6/1

Selected top goalscorers – Suarez @18/1, Aguero @12/1

 

The surprise package of the Premiership season has undoubtedly been Liverpool, with Brendan Rodgers showing that he can build a side that is more than capable of sustaining a title challenge right up until the end. Suarez was obviously the main man and grabbed the majority of the headlines, but the impressive nature of which Liverpool managed to involve a wider variety of attacking talent was key. Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge, Gerrard all had exceptional seasons.

 

Another talking point will obviously be the struggles of David Moyes and his inability to continue the tradition of taking Manchester United into the Champions League. A seventh place finish was pretty inconceivable before the season kicked off, and even finishing outside the top four would have got you 7/1 back in August. But lacklustre performances and an especially poor home record were factors in proving that no-one gets a free pass into European competition these days.

 

I was impressed by the consistency of Southampton again this season. They had good quality in all areas of the pitch, with the likes of Lallana, Shaw, Schneiderlin, Lovren and Rodriguez all maintaining their high level of performance. They had a tricky patch around November/December time, but managed to come out the other side without ever really looking in danger. Everton also had a very good season, and were very much in the frame for Champions League football at one stage. Lukaku, Coleman, Jagielka, McCarthy have all been excellent. They were 7/2 to finish in the top 6 at the start of the season.

 

Other notable achievements included the ability of Crystal Palace and Sunderland to avoid the drop. Tony Pulis worked wonders since his arrival and completely turned around the fortunes of Palace – a side looking destined for relegation before he took over in Novemeber, to a mid-table finish. Sunderland were cut adrift approaching the final few weeks, after a run of 8 losses and 2 draws in 10 games. But they mustered a last push for safety, with 4 wins on the bounce including away victories over Chelsea and Man United to avoid Championship football next season.

 

No-one in the bottom half of the table had particularly inspiring season over the course of the 38 games. I think Newcastle fans will look at the second half of the season they had and will feel lucky to have finished in 10th place. Swansea were in danger of getting sucked into the relegation fight at one point, but Wilfried Bony played a big part in keeping his side in mid-table mediocrity.

 

The battle at the top resulted in a slightly last-gasp title deciding final day, which Manchester City won. However, Liverpool did themselves no favours by losing their 3-0 lead to Crystal Palace the week before, effectively putting the title fight fully out of their hands. Both City and Liverpool finished the League season having scored over 100 goals each, but ultimately City prevailed. They appear to have the best squad in the league, and with the ‘spine’ of Kompany, Toure, Silva and Aguero they look capable of picking up points anywhere.

 

Chelsea and Arsenal both fell short of the race for the title, with the Blues caught up in a Champions League campaign at the sharp end of the season. Their ability to draw 0-0 against any of the big sides probably didn’t win Mourinho any fans from the neutral contingent, but it was probably the losses against Villa, Palace and Sunderland that ultimately did for their hopes of lifting the Premiership title. Arsenal, after going on a dodgy run in which they almost surrendered 4th place when losing Everton, managed to finish on a high by securing Champions League football (playoff) and lifting the FA Cup.

 

Individual awards:

FWA, PFA and Premier League Player of the Year: Luis Suarez (Liverpool)

PFA Young Player of the Year: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

Barclays Manager of the Season : Tony Pulis (Crystal Palace)

LMA Manager of the Year : Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool)

 

Statistics:

Total goals: 1052

Penalties scored: 73

Clean sheets: 232

Goals per 90 mins: Sergio Aguero (0.99), Luis Suarez (0.94), Daniel Sturridge (0.83)

Pass completion: Mathieu Flamini (93.17%), Laurent Koscielny (92.45%), Per Mertesacker (92.38%), Mousa Dembele (91.60%), John Terry (91.57%)

Completed passes per 90 mins: Yaya Toure (70.89), Michael Carrick (70.00), Jose Canas (69.73), Aaron Ramsey (68.53), David Silva (67.06)

Completed final 3rd passes per 90 mins: Mesut Ozil (30.58 – 81.86% completion), David Silva (29.53 – 78.67% completion), Samir Nasri (23.69 – 81.58% completion)

Save %: Vito Mannone (77.51%), Petr Cech (77.14%), Adrian (76.11%)

Matches per clean sheet: Artur Boruc (2.07), Petr Cech (2.13), Wojciech Szczesny (2.31)