City have had sustained success. They're not media darlings, though Guardiola may be. The same refs are running the VAR and are refusing to overrule their colleagues, except for handballs and offsides. As I've said repeatedly, the ref makes the decision, VAR confirms it and we're back to where we were, but with a long delay to get there.
Here are the Premier League all time penalty statistics for the 6 ever present clubs in the PL era: Penalties for: Liverpool - 152 Man Utd - 137 Chelsea - 129 Arsenal - 125 Everton - 112 Spurs - 108 Others worthy of a mention Man City 109, Newcastle United 107 Penalties against: Spurs - 110 Arsenal - 104 Everton = 103 Liverpool - 94 Chelsea - 69 Man Utd - 63 Others worthy of a mention Aston Villa 110, Newcastle 106, WHU 102 Difference between penalties for and against: Man Utd +74 Chelsea +60 Liverpool +58 Arsenal +21 Everton +9 Spurs -2 Surprising that Everton come in 5th, considering they have been mid table and lower for a large percentage of the PL era. Unbelievably, Spurs have conceded more penalties than they have been awarded in the Premier League era, and out of all the ever present PL clubs, have conceded the most and been awarded the fewest penalty kicks.
Are these the only clubs that have not been relegated in the PL era? Liverpool - 152 Man Utd - 137 Chelsea - 129 Arsenal - 125 Everton - 112 Spurs - 108
Yes. The two other teams mentioned have spent three (Newcastle) and five (City) seasons outside of the Premier League.
You have to take account of how good or bad the teams are/were. Utd have been a dominant force for most of the PL era and the style of play has meant that so much more time has been spent in the opposition penalty area. If you look at wins/losses or goals scored/conceded stats, Utd's record is similar in terms of the ratio. Liverpool's stats however show a disproportionate number of penalties awarded.
The drop-off on penalties awarded against looks rather bizarre, to me. Spurs, Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool are all fairly close, then there's an enormous gap to Chelsea and Man Utd. There was a good decade without one being scored at Old Trafford, IIRC. Ruel Fox got one in 1993 and then nothing. The number has grown significantly since Ferguson's departure, too.
Couldn't we borrow Klopp for a week to show how to fool the refs into giving US lots of penalties?But we'd have to borrow Mane and the Gypsy though!
