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Taking these assumptions forward, we look at how Southampton have accrued 12 points more than last season.
Opponent | 2012-13 points | 2013-14 points | Difference |
West Brom(A) | 0 | 3 | +3 |
Sunderland(H) | 0 | 1 | +1 |
Norwich(A) | 1 | 0 | -1 |
West ham(H) | 0 | 1 | +1 |
Liverpool(A) | 0 | 3 | +3 |
Crystal Palace(H) [compared with QPR] | 0 | 3 | +3 |
Swansea(H) | 1 | 3 | +2 |
Total | 2 | 14 | +12 |
Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it! Now if you compile a similar table for all the teams you get this.
Teams | Games Played | Corresponding Points difference | Premier League Points | Premier League Positon |
| Southampton | 7 | 12 | 14 | 4 |
| Liverpool | 7 | 4 | 16 | 2 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 4 | 13 | 6 |
| Hull City | 7 | 4 | 11 | 8 |
| Aston Villa | 7 | 4 | 10 | 10 |
| Everton | 7 | 3 | 12 | 7 |
| Newcastle United | 7 | 3 | 10 | 11 |
| Norwich City | 7 | 1 | 7 | 18 |
| Swansea City | 7 | 1 | 7 | 15 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 7 | 0 | 9 | 12 |
| West Ham United | 7 | 0 | 8 | 13 |
| Cardiff City | 7 | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| Manchester City | 7 | -1 | 13 | 5 |
| Stoke City | 7 | -2 | 7 | 16 |
| Fulham | 7 | -2 | 7 | 17 |
| Crystal Palace | 7 | -4 | 3 | 19 |
| Sunderland | 7 | -4 | 1 | 20 |
| Arsenal | 7 | -5 | 16 | 1 |
| Chelsea | 7 | -5 | 14 | 3 |
| Manchester United | 7 | -6 | 10 | 9 |
Trending
As we can see, Southampton are, statistically, the most improved team in the Premier League. And if we have two teams with the same “Corresponding Points difference”, the team which is ranked higher in the Premier League is ranked higher in our table.
Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have taken 4 more points this season vis-a-vis the last season. So far, Hull City have been the best performing “promoted” side, having secured 11 points from the first 7 games. This is 4 points more than what Reading secured from the corresponding fixtures last season.
The bottom of this table, interestingly, features all the top PL sides with Manchester United propping up the table. While David Moyes may have had a point in saying that his team had a tough run-in in the initial part of the season, it’s worth pointing out that Manchester United secured 16 points from the same set of fixtures last season; this season they only have 10. This is a difference of -6: the most in the Premier League.
Chelsea, too, are second from bottom, having taken 14 points from 7 games this season; from the corresponding fixtures last season they took 19 points. But as we’ve said earlier, this table does not take into affect neither the “Ferguson Effect” nor the arrival of “The Special One.”
We will look at more interesting trends as the new season takes shape in the forthcoming weeks.
