Tackles fouls and yellow cards for the big seven: the different way each club is treated

 

 

 

 

 

By Tony Attwood

• Leeds v Arsenal. Leeds can foul with far fewer consequences than Arsenal.

According to the referees of the Premier League, Leeds are committing twice as many fouls as Manchester City.  And this makes a certain type of sense because Manchester City undertake only half the number of tackles as Leeds.

But now consider this.  Arsenal have received three times as many yellow cards as Manchester City but only commit 18% more tackles than Manchester City.  So why on earth are Arsenal getting all these yellow cards?   Are our players really getting on for three times as bad at tackling as Manchester City?

Let’s try another one.  Leeds are fouled twice as often as Manchester City.  Why are players going out of their way to tackle Leeds players?

The fact is the range that we find in terms of tackles, fouls, and yellow cards is rather large.  So large it seems rather strange.

For example, Crystal Palace players are fouled almost twice as much as Manchester United players.  Why is that?  Is it because Palace players are so nimble that they need to be fouled to stop them. 

And why are Arsenal the third most fouled team in the league and by a long way the most fouled team of the top group of clubs at the moment?

Here are the figures for the big seven…

 

Team	Tackles	Fouls pg	Tackles per foul	Fouled PG
Manchester City	12.6	7.2	1.75	8.2
Liverpool	14.3	8.8	1.62	8.3
Arsenal	14.9	10.3	1.45	11.5
Manchester United	15.6	12.2	1.28	7.1
Tottenham	15.9	10.7	1.49	8.3
Newcastle	16	11.4	1.40	9.7
Chelsea	20.2	10.3	1.96	11.2

 

So let’s try and get a view on these figures.  Chelsea tackle 60% more than Manchester City.  Arsenal tackle 18% more than Manchester City.

But Chelsea and Arsenal both get 43% more fouls given against them than Manchester City.

Here’s another interesting one.  Chelsea are able to comit 35% more tackles than Arsenal before having one of their tackles called a foul.   Are Chelsea really 35% better at tackling than Arsenal?

Arsenal get fouled 62% more than Manchester United this season.  Why are teams going out to foul Arsenal?

Of course there can be answers – such as a desire by defensive thugs to cripple Martinelli and so take him out of the game.  But I am not sure that explains everything.

This table shows the number of tackles each club does, the number of fouls it gets and in the final column the number of times its players are fouled.

 

Team	Tackles pg	Fouls pg	Fouled PG
1. Manchester City	12.6	7.2	8.2
2. Liverpool	14.3	8.8	8.3
3. Brentford	14.5	8.3	10.7
4. Arsenal	14.9	10.3	11.5
5. West Ham	15.2	9.1	7.2
6. Nottingham Forest	15.5	11.3	10.7
7. Manchester United	15.6	12.2	7.1
8. Tottenham	15.9	10.7	8.3
9. Newcastle	16	11.4	9.7
10. Bournemouth	16.7	10.7	11.0
11. Crystal Palace	17.4	12	13.3
12. Leicester	17.5	10.4	10.2
13. Wolverhampton	17.5	9.4	10.6
14. Fulham	17.5	9.6	8.8
15. Brighton	18.7	10.1	9.0
16. Everton	18.7	8.9	9.6
17. Southampton	18.8	10.3	9.5
18. Aston Villa	19.5	12.6	12.5
19. Chelsea	20.2	10.3	11.2
20. Leeds	23.6	14.4	10.3

 

These really are enormous variations.  Why are Aston Villa players fouled quite so much? And why are clubs going out of their way to foul Palace, Villa and Arsenal.   Is it a deliberate ploy?   And if it is, shouldn’t PGMO be doing something to protect these players?

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