Alternative Premier League, Gameweek 24: Sunderland Sits On Top Of The Form Table

Despite big away wins for Wolves and Swansea, the weekend undoubtedly belonged to the Gunners, who ran out six goal winners over lowly Blackburn.

Arsenal’s seven goal mauling won them an impressive 7.67 points, easily the highest of the gameweek. As we’ve seen many times, it can be difficult for the top teams to prosper in home games against the bottom pack. Large league position differential often sees the title chasing sides accrue low point scores for comfortable wins, but things were different at the Emirates. Arsenal’s large win means that they’ve closed the gap on the four teams directly above them who all drew with eachother.

Had Liverpool been able to break down the stubborn Spurs back-line and win their game at Anfield then the Reds would have finally broken into the top four, a quartet which has remained the same for a fair few months. Despite struggling at home, Liverpool have managed six away wins this season – so even though Kenny Dalglish’s side have won two games fewer than Arsenal and Newcastle, the Reds are two points clear of the chasing pair. Liverpool scored well for their draw against a Spurs side who are sitting in third and won 3.88 points. However it is Chelsea who were the draw winners this week with their high-scoring game against Manchester United. Despite throwing away a three-nil lead, the draw still hands Chelsea 3.92 points.

Wolves got some much needed points after winning their bottom of the table clash over QPR. Wolves hadn’t won since gameweek 14 when they beat Sunderland 2-1, so their first away win since the start of the season was a welcome boost to the points tally. With Wigan, Blackburn and Bolton all failing to win, Wolves’ tally of 6.57 sees them move up a place and gain some ground on the teams above them. There is still quite a large gap between Wanderers in 18th and West Brom in 15th, but with the two sides meeting this weekend things could start getting tighter at the bottom once again.

It would be rude to ignore what is happening at Sunderland at the moment. Sunderland have gone from lowly strugglers to the team on top of the form table for the third gameweek running in the space of a few months. The Black Cats’ mid season charge means that there is finally a team threatening to break into the top seven, and the 7.36 gap between themselves and Newcastle could be greatly reduced in the next few weeks.

Manchester City have been quietly been going about their business again, and their 3-0 over Fulham opened up another gap between themselves and United. However, should City slip up and United get a decent win over fifth placed Liverpool this coming weekend then the tussle will commence once more.

• Highest Score: Arsenal 7.67 points
• Lowest Score: Blackburn 0.94 points
• Best draw score: Chelsea 3.92 points