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'The Premier League table redesigned' blog discussion

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.
Please click reply to discuss below.

Replies

  • 456789456789 Forumite
    2.3K Posts
    heh this really is hardcore nerd-dom :D
  • Haha... you have too much free time on your hands Martin ! But...... i love the idea of the Points per game average. In the USA they have batting averages for the players in baseball and it does help you to understand how players are doing mid-season.

    Maybe you can start posting the table each week... it could drive more traffic to your blog ! :D
  • worto03worto03 Forumite
    456 Posts
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    so whatever happens we (Villa) end up 6th. not very exciting is it.
  • mikehill17mikehill17 Forumite
    156 Posts
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    This is exactly what every fan does to contort the table according to their needs throughout the season! How often have you heard someone say something along the lines of "we're 5 points behind x, but we've got 2 games in hand!" Personally, I'd rather have 5 points on the board than the opportunity to win up to 6.

    My opinion is that the most important factor to determining progress is actually fixtures played to date. For example, Sunderland, Stoke, Wigan, Spurs, Man City and Burnley have all already played 3 of the 'big 4', whereas Wolves have yet to play any of them and Everton, Blackburn, West Ham and Portsmouth have all only played 1. It's therefore arguable that the 12 points gained from 9 matches played by Burnley are more valuable than the 11 points gained from 8 so far by Everton, given that Everton have more potentially tough matches ahead of them.

    The league table as it stands is the fairest measure, and as a Spurs fan I'm glad we have the points on the board rather than the opportunity to win more!
  • Adjusting for games in hand is easy - it is just the number of points per game. Any further iterations based simply on number of games played and points obtained are fudge factors, sorry!

    What would be really good to represent somehow is a points table that is weighted by the difficulty of games played thus far. With a normal table, this factor is only ever shaken out and equalised at the end of the season (i.e. when every team has played every other). Difficulty of games could be weighted by current position of the opposition in the table. But like every method, it would be far from perfect...
  • MSE_MartinMSE_Martin MoneySaving Expert
    8.3K Posts
    Forumite
    Casanova wrote: »
    Adjusting for games in hand is easy - it is just the number of points per game. Any further iterations based simply on number of games played and points obtained are fudge factors, sorry!

    What would be really good to represent somehow is a points table that is weighted by the difficulty of games played thus far. With a normal table, this factor is only ever shaken out and equalised at the end of the season (i.e. when every team has played every other). Difficulty of games could be weighted by current position of the opposition in the table. But like every method, it would be far from perfect...


    That actually shouldn't be that difficult to do - you could weight it based on the average points per game of the team played. Though its a much bigger job to set up the initial data.
    Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
    Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
    Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
    Debt-Free Wannabee Official Nerd Club: (Honorary) Members number 000
  • john_s_2john_s_2 Forumite
    698 Posts
    This is a nice way of displaying a league table, which I picked up from the confguide forum a few years ago. I think it's self-explanatory and it's easy to see how wide apart the teams are, and where the league is tight. It also displays quite well on messageboards!

    27 Chelsea
    26
    25
    24
    23
    22 Arsenal Man Utd
    21 Liverpool
    20
    19 Tottenham
    18 Man City Aston Villa
    17 Sunderland
    16 Stoke
    15
    14
    13 Wigan Burnley
    12 Everton
    11 Bolton Fulham
    10 Birmingham Wolverhampton Blackburn
    9 Hull
    8
    7 West Ham Portsmouth
  • Up to date 'Points Per Game league tables' can be found at:

    Mike Avery's football stats website (as I'm a 'newbie' I can't post links, but if you google Mike Avery and click on the PPG link from the home page)

    Covers levels 1-9 of English football.
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