The ‘Home Bankers’: Will Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea & Liverpool Remain Fortresses this Season?
It’s not rocket science when trying to work out which sides are the best to back when playing at home in the Premier League. After all, how often do the big four lose at home? However, surprisingly when picking your Premier 10 and Footy 15 selections this season it is worth noting that both Chelsea and Liverpool only won 1 more home match than Man City in 2007/08, so they are perhaps not as invincible as many would think.
Despite this, if you are after a ‘home banker’ the fortresses of Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, the Emirates and Anfield are as per usual the places to go.
Chelsea: The 4-Year Reign at Stamford Bridge
The Blues are currently on a sensational unbeaten home run which stretches back over 4 years to February 2004. They now hold a top division record run of 82 League games unbeaten at home. This run includes 60 wins and 22 draws.
Chelsea’s incredible run at the Bridge ended previous record holders Liverpool’s unbeaten home run of 63 League games unbeaten (49 wins) between February 1978 and December 1980.
The last time the Blues suffered defeat at the Bridge was 2-1 against Arsenal in February 2004. Claudio Ranieri was Chelsea manager and none of the scorers on either side still remain at the clubs. Eidur Gudjohnsen scored for Chelsea but was later sent-off whilst Edu and Patrick Vieira scored for the Gunners. The legendary pop duo of Sam and Mack were number 1 with their cover version of ‘With a little help from my friends’.
Not only have Chelsea remained unbeaten in the Premier League but they are also unbeaten in their last 68 home matches in all competitions (50 wins & 18 draws). The last time the Blues tasted defeat at the Bridge in any competition was in a 2-1 Champions League loss to Barcelona in February 2006.
Therefore despite drawing a surprising 7 of their 19 Premier League home games last season, the Blues have still got to be one of your Premier 10 and Footy15 ‘home bankers’ for the new season. Particularly as they’ve added more guile to the side with the acquisition of Deco.
Arsenal: The Gunners Imperious at the Emirates
The Gunners were one of two sides that went the entire 2007/08 Premier League season unbeaten at home alongside Chelsea. Their record of 47 points from a possible 57 points available was only bettered by the champions Manchester United.
Arsenal are now unbeaten in their last 23 league games at the Emirates (won 17 & drew 6) since losing to West Ham in April 2007. That defeat remains the Gunners only League defeat since they moved into their new stadium.
Despite such an impressive home record, last season Arsene Wenger’s young side drew 3 successive home matches between March and April. This was their worst run of home League games without a win since Nov 1994-Feb 1995. This emphasizes just how strong the Gunners have been at on their own patch over the years.
Therefore, despite drawing 5 games at home against some relatively weak opposition such as Middlesbrough and Birmingham last season, they still remain one of top Premier 10 and Footy15 home bankers.
Liverpool: Opponents Kop it at Anfield
Liverpool ended the season with a superb run of form at Anfield of 8 consecutive home League wins. Rafa Benitez’s men scored a total of 20 goals in those games whilst only conceding 4 goals, so should enter the 2008/09 season full of confidence.
The Reds didn’t drop any points at Anfield since a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa in late January. They remain unbeaten in their last 11 games on Merseyside (9 wins & 2 draws) with their last and only League defeat coming against old rivals Manchester United in December.
Therefore, the Reds have lost just once in their last 23 home League games. In fact, Rafa’s side have only lost twice in their last 54 League games at Anfield. It should be of no surprise that both those defeats came against their recent bogey side and hated rivals United back in March and December 2007.
Liverpool’s record at home has been consistently strong for a number of seasons though they’ve struggled against their main title rivals United and Chelsea. In fact, the Reds have lost just 5 of their last 71 home League games and they’ve all been against those two sides and four of those defeats were by a close 1-0 scoreline. The last time Benitez’s team lost at home to a team other than those two sides was a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham back in November 2004.
The Reds are pretty prolific at Anfield too as they scored in 21 of their last 23 home League games. Their only failures came against United (0-1) and Birmingham (0-0).
Rafa’s team remain one of the strongest Premier League sides at home though Premier 10 and Footy15 players should recognise they tended to draw a few games last season as well as struggle when they face the current champions.
Manchester United: Fear for Rivals at the Theatre of Dreams
Despite losing once at home last season, United had the best home Premier League record. After all, the champions did win 17 of their 19 matches.
Their record was built on an incredibly strong defensive record of conceding just 7 goals in total. However, this was not a Premier League record as the Red Devils just conceded 4 goals in the 1994/95 season.
In fact, only Darius Vassell and Benjani (both Man City), Tim Cahill (Everton), Steve Howard (Derby),Jeremie Aliadiere (Middlesbrough), Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal) and Dean Ashton (West Ham) managed to score Premier League goals for visiting teams at Old Trafford last season.
United’s single home defeat last season came in a 2-1 defeat against neighbours Man City in February. The only other League game Fergie’s men failed to win last season was the 0-0 draw v Reading in their opening match of the season.
The Red Devils ended the season at the Theatre of Dreams in sensational form by scoring a total of 24 goals in their last 8 games. Therefore, the remain the main ‘home banker’ for Premier 10 and Footy 15 players and rightly so.
Read Part 2: Introducing the Away Day Specialists
Tags: Arsenal, Chelsea, footy15, Liverpool, Manchester United, Premier 10, Premier League
August 5th, 2008 at 16:32
nothing will change with this lot - the away form will be the clincher. As Liverpool threw so many points away from good positions away from home i expect there to be an improvement. Doesn’t mean the other three won’t carry on as usual…….