2006/07 Premiership - A new way of scoring

Basically, I got a bit tired of the way points are only awarded to draws and wins and not for effort and how single points can separate several clubs.

Why should a relegation zone team only gain a point for holding a top contender for a draw?  What about a team that has 60%+ posession of the ball but ends up losing to a freak goal?

So I've devised a new point scoring system ahead of the start of the 2006/07 season and will try and keep the table up to date as the season goes on.

I've set the rules for this season (2006/07), but I'm willing to rethink for future seasons if there are any good suggestions out there.

I know looking at the rules they seem complicated, but there are only a few key points to the scores and once you start applying it to a number of games it gets really easy (I tried it).

On the results page you'll see the score for each game, the stats for the game (cards, possession and the points between the teams prior to that game) and a breakdown of points awarded.  Remember that no team can earn less than 0 per game, so although a team may have had a bad result that earns them a lot of deductions, the worst they could walk away with is 0.

The league table shows the number of games played, the number of wins/draws/defeats, a subtotal of the points for those results and the bonus points earned (for cards, possession, etc) and a final total.  There is also the obligatory gaols scored, conceded and goal difference as well.

OK, I've been really busy for a few days and wasn't able to update on the site for a little while, but all is now fixed and updated and I'd like to say it's all great, but Charlton are still bottom .

Man Utd have continued to dominate the league in here and are 64 points ahead of Chelsea, which is probably the equivalent of 6 points in the "official" league, so this shows their dominance overall.

There are still 5 clubs with under 100 points, but things are still fairly tight behind the leaders when you consider that the gap between 1st and 4th is 144 points whilst the gap between 4th and 20th is only 123!

As an interesting little exercise, I've decided to have a look at how much possession each team has on average, both home and away and in total.  Not surprisingly, Man Utd tops the league with an average possession of 57.78% of their games, but what's impressive is that while they have a figure of 57.83% at home, they don't let up when playing away with an average figure of 57.78.%.  Arsenal has the highest average figure for home games with an incredible 60.56% - they just need the finishing touch to get some wins under their belt.

There are some interesting results being thrown up as well.  Three teams have had more possession away from home, including Chelsea who average 56.19% at home, but then have a figure of 56.77% for away games.  The other two teams with this strange anomaly are Reading and Sheff Utd.  Fulham has the largest difference between home and away games, their average of 51.13% at home is spoiled by an away figure of 42.07% which is the worst in the league.

The big surprise are Reading who have the second worst record of possession overall in the league with an average figure of 45.34% in 14 games, so they obviously take what chances they get more seriously.  At the other end of the scale you have Blackburn who average 52.15% in 13 games (5th highest average), but are just above the relegation zone, so they need to practice scoring .

Only Watford, Reading and Sheff Utd have failed to average 50% or more at home.

The top teams continue to extend their lead, there is now a gap of 70 points between first and sixth, and twentieth placed Charlton is a further 95 points behind!

Man Utd and Arsenal are still the only two teams with positive bonus scores, Chelsea and Aston Villa are the only two teams to have less than -10 bonus points (both having -7), Middlesbrough have lost the most with -34 despite gaining a point against Everton for defeating a much higher placed team.

The game between Wigan and Man Utd saw the first game with a difference of over 100 points between the two teams (130), but Wigan failed to capitalise.

OK, I was a bit busy with life last week to update, but as there's only been one game since, I don't think it really made much difference .

Man Utd have extended their lead on this table now to 29 points - even though the official league table shows them level on points with Chelsea.  The now have 22 bonus points which is a sign of their dominance so far.

As predicted, we've had two results where a point has been gained for a result against a higher placed opponent - and Portsmouth was the losing team in both games.  Are they going to be the team this season that starts well and ends up sliding all the way down?

Don't know what to say about Charlton, except... WAKE UP!!!

Hmmm, my beloved Charlton aren't having a good time either in the official league or this one .

Man Utd are still hanging on strong to the top spot in this league, thanks to good displays which have earned them more bonus points than anyone else (or even the rest put together).  In fact, Arsenal are the only other team to have a positive bonus score.

No surprise that Sheff Wed have the worst bonus point tally, with a -30 from 6 matches so far, thought Middlesbrough are only one better with -29.

We've only had the one team score bonus points by beating a much higher placed team (Arsenal v Man Utd 17/09), but with a spread of 121 points between 1st to last we're about to see some matches which could yield some bonus points.  Games to watch out for are Portsmouth v Bolton (50 points diff), Charlton v Arsenal (57 points diff), Man Utd v Newcastle (79 points diff) and Tottenham v Portsmouth (71 points diff).

Another first!  Arsenal are the first team to gain a point for a result against a higher ranked team.  Prior to their game against Man Utd they were 91 points behind which meant a bonus point.

Even with that loss, a big difference between this league and the one maintained by the FA is that Man Utd remain at the top of the table with a lead of 8 points over Portsmouth, with Chelsea a further 14 points behind.

A nice spread of points sees a gap of 57 points between 1st and 7th, but at this early stage the rest are nicely bunched up with only 34 points separating the next 10.

After a break for internationals, it's been business as usual.  Man Utd continue to dominate the league, they are now the first team to break the 100 point mark after a 100% record and the highest bonus tally so far.

One very obvious difference between the official league and this one is that Arsenal is in 12th position here because of bonus points, but not doing so well in "real life" .

Middlesbrough stand out for the opposite reason, having amassed a total of -23 bonus points, leaving them in 16th place.

OK, Chelsea have become the first losing team to retain some points from their game and this has already affected the way this table differs from the official one after only 3 games!

Man Utd have consolidated their position at the top of the table and are already set to be the first team to break the 100 point mark.  They're also 36 points ahead of 2nd place Chelsea.

On a happier note, the great Charlton have finally registered some points and are on their way

Well, the first weekend is over and a plethora of cards has meant a whole load of deductions for many teams (including my beloved Charlton ).

Man Utd have got the biggest single game tally so far with an extra 8 bonus points on top of the 25 they got for the win for a total of 33.  Unless we see some big results again I expect this record to stay for a few weeks.  Once the league is more established and we see a couple of shock result we might see the points differences giving some big bonus points to someone.

If you wish to contact me, please email Premiership@pubmania.demon.co.uk