After a week of well documented controversies, people, with no affiliation to The Blue, are beginning to question the fact that Chelsea seem to have been treated harshly this season.
The Opta statistics speak for themselves. Martin Samuels in The Mail, whilst not subscribing to a conspiracy theory, is surprised by our penalty to game ratio in the Premier league – We have only being awarded a penalty every 13 games compared to one in 1.8 games in UEFA fixtures. This is a variation of 11.2.
Samuels compares this figure to those of two of our main rivals.
Manchester City and Liverpool also find it harder to win penalties in the Premier League but only by a variation of 0.2 and 0.5 respectively.
According to the stats, Arsenal, on the other hand , actually find it almost twice as easy to win penalties in the Premier League than in European matches.
Chelsea are the cleanest team in the Premier league, ranking at number 20, in the yellow cards from fouls table. We have received 28 bookings from fouls this season. Sunderland are top on 55 with Arsenal in second (46), QPR third (45), and Man City in fourth (44).
We also boast the most fouled player in Eden Hazard. Both manager & player have asked for protection for him – Mourinho from referees, Hazard in the form of specially designed, custom made, shin pads.
One would have assumed logically that being the cleanest team in the Premier League, with the most fouled player, having won the most matches and with the highest goal difference, we would have suffered more fouls in the box and therefore been awarded far more penalties than we have.
The figures provide statistical evidence that Mourinho does have a point. We do appear to be getting a raw deal.
Keep The Blue Flag Flying High!
