Fair Play Table

With the rash of red cards affecting key matches, plus the fact I didn't see too much this weekend, this is the perfect opportunity to review one of the perhaps lesser known aspects of the EPL - the Fair Play table.  The details of the how the table is calculated are laid out here.  A "delegate," after conferring with the referee, scores the teams in five categories - red/yellow cards, positive play, respect towards opponents, respect towards the referee, and behavior of team officials.  For example, accepting doubtful decisions by the referee without protest can get you a high mark in that category while factors like slow play or lots of tactical fouls can get you low marks in the positive play category.  And this is not a purely academic exercise.  The top club from each of the top three leagues - in terms of fair play rankings - gets a spot in the subsequent year's Europa Cup.  That is how Burnley, 18th in the real table, have a better chance at playing in Europe next year than, say, Swansea, who are in 8th place.  The EPL was third in those standings at the beginning of the year but the feeling is the league is likely to fall out of the top three.  Here are the EPL standings as of 3/10/15:

Stay tuned to see which side, if any, gets to Europe via this route.


The Weekend

Only saw one match - Liverpool - Manchester United.  Though Manchester United had dominated the first half they were only up 1-0 and the match was entertaining.  Steven Gerrard took less than a minute to put a crimp in the second half prospects, getting sent off for stomping on Herrara.  Still an interesting match, with Mata's side bicycle kick a real highlight and this week's YouTubeableMoment. Sturridge's goal in the 69th minute provided some hope that the hosts would mount a comeback even a man down but it never happened.  This is a big win for MUN, moving them five points up on Liverpool for the 4th spot.

As expected it was mostly a status quo weekend.  Only two top half teams lost (Liverpool and Stoke) and only two bottom half teams won (Everton and Crystal Palace).  Dennis can add details on Aston Villa's tough loss to Swansea.

After only a few minutes, I would have bet anything that the total number of goals in this match would be over 4.  And two weeks ago, that would have scared the bejesus out of me.  Now, I thought a 2-2 draw was both achievable and quite acceptable.  The longer the game dragged on scoreless, the more it felt like Villa were clinging to their one point, which they ultimately failed to do when Gomis scored in 87th minute.  I would have been happy with a point, but this loss wasn't too devastating in and of itself and the team still looked pretty good.  The bigger issue is that is was one of our few real chances to earn any points.  With each week we don't earn any points, more and more pressure is loaded onto the upcoming QPR match and the possible relegation deciding final week match against Burnley.  Winning those two matches virtually assures avoiding relegation, as they are both "6 pointers" - earn 3 points and deny 3 points from your competition.  Obviously the winning train had to be derailed at some point, but I hope they can regain their form in time to play QPR in 2 weeks.  


Yes Officer, That's the Guy - Part III

Yep, happened again.  Here's the incident.  Here's the lineup.
 
 Dawson fouled Bony, who was heading unchallenged towards the goal but McAuley got sent off.  Frankly, doesn't Craig Dawson (left) just look guiltier than Gareth McAuley.  This time the red card was transferred after the match to the appropriate party.  Although notice on the video that McAuley also hacks Bony after Dawson's foul.  It's hard out there for a striker.


Union Lose

Speaking of playing a man down, young Zach Pfeffer earned himself an early red with an wild elbow.  Shorthanded against Dallas is no way to go through life and the Union paid the price with a 0-2 loss at home.  This was always going to be a tough match with a slim chance of a result so it wasn't a disaster.  I see the Red Bulls are off to a good start with a win and a draw in two matches so far.


Home stretch for Chester

With just four matches left, the Blues are clinging to 4th place.  But as you can see from the table below, nothing is assured at this point.  Perhaps the most danger lurks in the form of Arsenal, which have two matches in hand.  The good news there is that two of their final six matches are against Tottenham.

Wins over Stoke and Blackburn bracketed a frustrating draw with Tottenham.  Yeah, both our goals were lucky but we were up 2-0 at 79 minutes; those two extra points would look really good right now.  Our last four are against Wolves, Huddersfield, Birmingham, and Manchester United.


International Break

Friendlies and Euro qualifiers are the order of the week.  BFS will take advantage of that and will not be posting next week - our first week without a post since we went live in December 2013.

In two weekends, the schedule is a mixed bag.  The weekend will start with Arsenal hosting Liverpool.  And there is the Tired-Weary Tyne-Wear derby; neither Sunderland or Newcastle (who will still be featuring a completely makeshift back line) are in good form but that's not supposed to matter when these two meet.  Still, I'm not holding my breath for a quality match there.

Aston Villa travel to Old Trafford but this may not be a weekend to pick up points.  They will be rooting for Tottenham to handle Burnley, West Ham to beat Leicester and West Brom to defeat QPR; a Swansea win over Hull wouldn't hurt either.  Everton are looking safer these days coming off of two straight wins but may have their hands full with Southampton.  At the top, Chelsea host Stoke and Man City travel to London to face a red hot Crystal Palace side; if the Citizens are not careful, they could find themselves in 4th before the Easter ham has been served.