Tag Archives: Premier League

Arsenal most followed Premier League club – Full stats revealed

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At the weekend, Arsenal passed 3,000,000 followers on Twitter, making them the first Premier League club to pass through the milestone. This surprised me when I see Mesut Ozil has over 4,000,000 and Justin Bieber has 46,000,000. I thought I would explore how many followers the rest of the Premier League have;

Premier League – 3,014,009
Arsenal – 3,005,680
Chelsea – 2,970,819
Liverpool – 2,086,130
Manchester United – 1,296,966*
Manchester City – 1,275,000*
Tottenham – 689,142
Newcastle – 304,220
Everton – 267,676
West Ham United – 228,383
Aston Villa – 221,244
Fulham – 177,848
Sunderland – 176,191
Swansea City – 171,814
Southampton – 156,853
Norwich City – 155,216
Stoke City – 148,038
West Browmich Albion – 104,770
Cardiff City – 79,997
Crystal Palace – 67,720
Hull City – 59,577

Now a lot can be made from the above data. You could argue that it is a cross-section of society and therefore indicates the level of support of each club throughout the world. But it would be ludicrous to claim that Manchester United have less supporters throughout the world than those above them – their amount of followers was surprisingly low.

What it does show is, Manchester United apart – Arsenal still have a strong world-wide supporters base, still above the nouveau clubs Chelsea and Manchester City. Although Chelsea have shown the amount of fans you can gain through success. Are they now supported more throughout the world than Liverpool? Perhaps.

What is certainly shows is Arsenal’s online presence. For a long time, it has been a belief of mine that Arsenal have the strongest online presence in the UK. We have the most and best blogs & podcasts. We eat up social media. It is why media outlets write so much about us, as they know writing about Arsenal will get more online hits then any other club.

And how does Europe compare?

Barcelona (English) – 10,438,412
Real Madrid (Spanish) – 9,318,902
Barcelona (Spanish) – 5,604,562
Barcelona (Catalan) – 3,898,654
Galatasaray – 3,238,592
Arsenal – 3,005,680
Chelsea – 2,970,819
Real Madrid (English) – 2,734,033
Fenerbache – 2,490,906
Liverpool – 2,086,130
AC Milan – 1,560,114
Manchester United – 1,296,966
Paris Saint-Germain – 900,593
Juventus – 836,397
Olympique Marseille – 774,761
Bayern Munich – 714,642
Borussia Dortmund – 611,246
Atletico de Madrid – 518,833
Inter Milan – 403,667
Valencia – 322,284
Ajax – 277,414
Celtic – 189,556
Olympique Lyonnais – 187,281
FC Porto – 134,317
Benfica – 132,109

A few things jump out. Firstly the popularity of Barcelona & Real Madrid. This clearly shows them as the two biggest clubs in the world. But also shows a fascination with both clubs outside of Spain. The fact that Barcelona’s English account is has the most followers shows the fascination with them outside of Spain, and in the UK itself. Real Madrid’s English account also being high shows the unhealthy fascination with Spanish football and El Classico within the UK.

The second thing was how high Galatasaray and Fenerbache were. this perhaps shows why the ‘Arab Spring’ spread so fast throughout Social Media such as Twitter and Facebook. Twitters popularity in the ‘middle east’ and surrounding area is interesting – and not really for a football blog – but the popularity in Turkey is likely to also be the reason why Mesut Ozil has 3,000,000 followers.

Lastly is the lack of followers both German clubs and other Central European sides have. Which shows more how little Twitter has taken off in Central Europe.

A lot of opinions can be made about Twitter, including size of football following, Twitter throughout the world, and popularity of social media throughout the world. Or you can just say this was boring and pointless.

Either way, I found it interesting

Keenos

*Manchester United also have an Official Indonesian account (93,747), Spanish (31,891) & Malaysian (9,551)
*Manchester City have an additional 9 foreign language accounts totaling 33,202
*All at time of writing, Noon on Sunday 3rd November

The Alternative Premier League Table

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They always say the league table does not lie. They also say that should not believe the league table in the 1st 10 games. Finally, it seems they are saying that if Arsenal are top of the league after the first 10 games, you should not trust their league position until they have been tested. Despite Arsenal having played (and beaten) 2 of the top 4, we have apparently not yet been tested. so in response, I have come up with an Alternative Premier League Table.

The way it works is simple, each side is given a score based on their current league position. Arsenal are worth 20, Crystal Palace worth 1. Now based on the season results so far, the ‘points’ you get for winning a game is the score based on their league position. So Aston Villa got 20 points for beating Arsenal, whilst Arsenal got 1 point for beating Crystal Palace. If the result was a draw, both teams get 1/3 of that score (based on 1 point for a draw being 1/3 of the 3 points for a win).

Now in theory, if a team has played mainly lower league sides, their score will be lower, therefore their league position should be lower. Where as if a team played those sides worth a higher score, their alternative place league place may well be higher. A draw against Liverpool, for example, is worth the same as a victory against all 3 sides in the relegation zone. So how did the Alternative Premier League Table work out:

ALT

So what does the Alternative Premier League Table show, if it is to indicate who is in a force position based on their opponents? Well it shows Everton as having had the hardest start, whilst the next 6 have all had very similar starts, in terms of opponents. The main big difference for Arsenal is that our 5 point lead is perhaps a bit bigger that it should be.

Meanwhile, what is clear is that Liverpool have had a very easy start, as they drop 8 places based on the alternative formula. Manchester United also drop further, indicating that they truly are a club in crisis.

Statistics can be made to show anything. What this table certainly shows is that we have not had the ‘easy start’ that many claim, and that it is no easier or harder than other teams currently in the title race.

As a final thought, below is the average league position that the top sides have faced so far:

1383511080071

Make of this what you will.

Keenos

Ramsey, Cazorla, Ozil, Injuries, Suits, Loic Remy & More

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Aaron Ramsey

I am getting fed up of speaking about the Welshman. I have been one of his biggest supporters for some time. For me, he has been brilliant for 12 months, not just this season. The main difference between this and last season is the goals. And what a goal it was against Liverpool. That is the type of finish you do when you do not need to think about what you’re doing. 10 games in, he should already have the Premier League Young Player of the Year wrapped up. Although it still would not surprise me if it go’s to Andros Townsend, despite him scoring as many league goals for Tottenham as Asmir Begovic has scored for Stoke City.

Santi Cazorla

A lesson to every young footballer here. Never stop playing. Another player, after the header hit the post, would have put his head in his hands and missed the chance for the tap on. Cazorla did not stop running and, whilst Skrtel stood still Cazorla got onto the rebound 1st for a brilliant finish. Always be moving. As soon as you stand still you miss an opportunity or end up a step behind.

Mesut Ozil

It sums up the strength of our midfield that our £42.5million signing had a poor game against one of our title contenders and yet we still dominated the middle of the park. With Cazorla, Ramsey & Rosicky performing – And Arteta regaining his form and fitness – it shows how important a squad can be. The more better players you have, the less of an effect a poor performance by one player has.

Injuries

According the Physio Room, Arsenal are top of the league. Unfortunately it is the injury table we are top of, rather than the Premier League. You have to go to the Premier League’s official site to see us top of the one. And that is what I feel is exciting. We have 9 injuries. Diaby, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski, Sanogo, Walcott, Flamini, Gnabry, Wilshere and now Gibbs. We played Liverpool with 8 players who would have been in the squad. Add in Gibbs and we are in the middle of an injury crisis. It perhaps shows on the bench (Although we still had 5 Internationals with 136 combined caps and 2 England U19 players) that we are suffering, but on the pitch we are not. Top of the league with these injuries, how far can we go when even half of those players return?

Quick Free Kick

A lot of talk this morning how Liverpool fans were robbed due to the quick free kick. It is a non story. Martin Atkinson gave the free kick, and was in the process of correctly booking Bacary Sagna when the quick free kick was taken. Martin Atkinson did not restart the game, and due to his decision to book Sagna, Liverpool have to wait until the referee has booked the offending player and then restarted play. There is no argument to be had here. Liverpool were not robbed. There was no goal to be ‘disallowed’ as play had not restarted.

Suits

Suits

It is only a little thing, but how sexy was that suit? Some have said for a long time, we are The Arsenal, we should be wearing suits. Hopefully this is a return to them. I do not know who made the decision that we start wearing them, whether it be Wenger, someone at board level, or the players themselves, but it is a good step in rebuilding the view that Arsenal are the class of English football.

Arsenal Suits

Loic Remy

Football is easy in hindsight. Transfers even easily. Before he scored against Chelsea, I commented on Twitter that he could have been an addition to the squad. He would have been able to provide good back up to Olivier Giroud, whilst also being able to play out wide. Taking into account the injuries to every single one of our wide players this year, he probably would have got minutes in every single league game this season. With him currently on bail until November 21st for an alleged rape, I can understand why we did not sign him. However, if he is found not guilty, Arsenal should explore as to whether we can break his season-long loan deal with Newcastle.

Test Passed

Yesterday was supposed to be our first big test. We passed that. And as expected, pundits have now moved the goal posts. Rather then Liverpool being the first test, the criticism is now that we have yet to play Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea. Sounds like sour grapes from pundits who can not admit we are in the title race. And as Chelsea showed in a defeat to Newcastle, every game in the Premier League is a potential defeat.

  • Arsenal have lost at home to Aston Villa
  • Chelsea have lost away to Everton and away to Newcastle
  • Liverpool have drawn with 11 men against 10 versus Newcastle
  • Manchester City have lost away to both Aston Villa and Cardiff City
  • Manchester United have lost at home to WBA
  • Tottenham have lost at home to West Ham

Every game in the Premier League is a test, and all you can do is beat whichever team you are playing that weekend. All a victory against Liverpool has reinforced in my mind is that we are title challengers.

Keenos