The biggest match of this weekend’s Premier League action turned out to be a damp squib as Arsenal and Chelsea played out a drab 0-0 draw at the Emirates on Monday night. While debate will continue about whether Arsenal should have had a penalty in the first half for Willian’s stamp on Walcott, Mike Dean’s quite inept refereeing and the general moribund nature of the game itself, it sure would have left both the teams with a glass half-full, half-empty feeling depending on whichever way you look at it.
In fact, both managers chose pragmatism over bullishness as they fell back upon tried and tested methods. After defeats at Napoli and the Etihad, Arsene Wenger opted to bring back defensive stability that has been the bedrock of their success this season. Eschewing the gung-ho approach that backfired against ManCity, the Frenchman opted not to make even a single substitution lest it disturb the “defensive stability” of his set-up.
Mourinho more-or-less adopted the same tactics he has been using against the big teams all season. The Portuguese seems loath to losing points away from home- considering some of Chelsea’s away performances this season, it is not a bad thing to do- and set up his side accordingly. He fell back on his usual tactics of getting men behind the ball and trying to hit on the counter. His statement on allowing Arteta time on the ball, “allowing him to pass it sideways”, was indicative of how Chelsea set up. Last season at the Emirates, Kaka was specifically asked to hustle and harry Arteta out of possession stifling Arsenal in the process as the Blues won 2-1.
Let us see what it does to our Corresponding Fixtures Table. As has already been mentioned in this series of articles, for the sake of uniformity we are comparing Hull City’s fixtures to Reading; Crystal Palace’s fixtures to QPR; and Cardiff City’s fixtures to Wigan.
| Teams | Games Played | Corresponding Points difference | Premier League Points | Premier League Positon | Goal Difference |
| Liverpool | 17 | 9 | 36 | 1 | 23 |
| Southampton | 17 | 9 | 24 | 9 | 4 |
| Newcastle United | 17 | 7 | 30 | 6 | 2 |
| Stoke City | 17 | 7 | 21 | 10 | -4 |
| Manchester City | 17 | 6 | 35 | 3 | 31 |
| Hull City | 17 | 6 | 20 | 12 | -6 |
| Aston Villa | 17 | 6 | 19 | 13 | -6 |
| Everton | 17 | 4 | 34 | 5 | 13 |
| Cardiff City | 17 | 4 | 17 | 15 | -12 |
| Norwich City | 17 | 3 | 19 | 14 | -14 |
| Chelsea | 17 | 0 | 34 | 4 | 14 |
| Fulham | 17 | 0 | 13 | 19 | -17 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 17 | -1 | 30 | 7 | -5 |
| Arsenal | 17 | -3 | 36 | 2 | 16 |
| Sunderland | 17 | -3 | 10 | 20 | -18 |
| Swansea City | 17 | -4 | 20 | 11 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 17 | -4 | 13 | 18 | -16 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 17 | -10 | 16 | 16 | -5 |
| West Ham United | 17 | -10 | 14 | 17 | -8 |
| Manchester United | 17 | -16 | 28 | 8 | 8 |
While Liverpool continue to top the table and Manchester United are bottom of the pile, Chelsea have a difference of zero which means that they have the same number of points from the same set of fixtures this season as they had last season. What’s interesting is the difference in terms of away points and home points shown in the tables below.
| Position | Team | Corresponding Away Points | Premier League Away Points | Number of games played |
| 1 | Newcastle United | 7 | 15 | 9 |
| 2 | Southampton | 6 | 9 | 8 |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 5 | 19 | 9 |
| 4 | Everton | 3 | 16 | 9 |
| 5 | Fulham | 3 | 6 | 8 |
| 6 | Aston Villa | 2 | 12 | 8 |
| 7 | Liverpool | 2 | 12 | 8 |
| 8 | Stoke City | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 9 | Norwich City | 1 | 7 | 9 |
| 10 | Hull City | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 11 | West Bromwich Albion | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| 12 | Swansea City | -1 | 10 | 8 |
| 13 | Cardiff City | -2 | 7 | 8 |
| 14 | Arsenal | -3 | 16 | 8 |
| 15 | West Ham United | -3 | 6 | 9 |
| 16 | Sunderland | -3 | 3 | 8 |
| 17 | Manchester City | -4 | 11 | 9 |
| 18 | Crystal Palace | -5 | 3 | 8 |
| 19 | Manchester United | -6 | 14 | 8 |
| 20 | Chelsea | -7 | 12 | 9 |
| Position | Team | Corresponding Home Points | Premier League Home Points | Number of games played |
| 1 | Manchester City | 10 | 24 | 8 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 7 | 24 | 9 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 7 | 22 | 8 |
| 4 | Cardiff City | 6 | 10 | 9 |
| 5 | Stoke City | 5 | 16 | 9 |
| 6 | Hull City | 5 | 15 | 8 |
| 7 | Aston Villa | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| 8 | Southampton | 3 | 15 | 9 |
| 9 | Norwich City | 2 | 12 | 8 |
| 10 | Everton | 1 | 18 | 8 |
| 11 | Crystal Palace | 1 | 10 | 9 |
| 12 | Arsenal | 0 | 20 | 9 |
| 13 | Newcastle United | 0 | 15 | 8 |
| 14 | Sunderland | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| 15 | Swansea City | -3 | 10 | 9 |
| 16 | Fulham | -3 | 7 | 9 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | -6 | 11 | 8 |
| 18 | West Ham United | -7 | 8 | 8 |
| 19 | Manchester United | -10 | 14 | 9 |
| 20 | West Bromwich Albion | -10 | 9 | 9 |
Compared to last season, Chelsea have accrued 7 more points from their corresponding home fixtures this season. In a symmetry of sorts, they have accrued 7 points less from their corresponding away fixtures this season, making them the worst performing away side in our “Corresponding Away Fixtures” table.
All the stats are compiled by Chaitanya Gööner with the help of Whoscored.com
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