For those interested in such minutiae of the game, I saw these reported about the Villa over the weekend:
- Before last Saturday, we had conceded in each of our last 37 away league visits to Burnley (Official Aston Villa app). Make that 38 now, it was looking so good until the defence parted like the Red Sea in the first minute of stoppage time.
- After Real Madrid cunningly wound down the clock in their Champions League victory over Manchester City, the question of how long the ball is in play in a match resurfaced (BBC website). The article referred to Mark Clattenburg suggesting in the Daily Mail that introducing 60-minute matches with a stop-clock might eradicate such gamemanship. Assessing ball in play in 2021-22 Premier League matches so far, Villa came bottom of the pile, with an average of 52 minutes and 23 seconds (top were Manchester City with nearly 61 minutes).
- Well, we all knew that Super Jack Grealish could draw a foul or two, often to the annoyance of opposition supporters, so maybe no surprise then that Villa were the most fouled team in both 2019-20 and 2020-21 (The Times). Surprisingly, we’re currently the most-fouled team this season too, even without Jack, though with 20% (~100) less fouls. We’re just ahead of Crystal Palace, so plenty at stake on Sunday.
