The Premier League is set to restart on June 17 when Aston Villa and Sheffield United square off behind closed doors at Villa Park. As far as pivotal opening matches go, the league could certainly do worse: Villa currently occupies the 19th position in the table and desperately needs every point it can pick up […]
Compared to football, baseball and basketball, the “big three” American sports, soccer is a uniquely fluid game: no set possession length, a continuously running clock, a tiny number of actual scoring attempts and constant transitions that blur the line between attack and defense. That’s made it much more difficult to quantify. Lionel Messi is better […]
Going into the English Premier League’s winter break two weekends ago, the only interesting race was for the final spot for the 2020-21 Champions League season — and even that race was a bit ho-hum. But all of a sudden, there’s a wide-open contest for not one but two spots. On Friday, Manchester City was […]
If Liverpool wins its game against Crystal Palace at London’s Selhurst Park on Saturday, it will remain at least 8 points clear of its nearest title challenger at the top of the Premier League table. Only three teams in league history have built equal or larger gaps at the top of the table through match […]
The Premier League has never been one for parity. For the majority of its existence, the league has been dominated by a small fraternity of very talented (and very wealthy) clubs. Only six teams have won the Premier League in its 27-year existence, and only four have won it more than once. And if last […]