Chelsea season in stats: an English team; ageing squad creaks and Lampard v. Scholes

After a slight break from posting at bridgeviews.co.uk the latest monthly stats article has come round extra quick, but here it is again. This time a look at the contribution of Chelsea’s English contingent, uncovering a worrying trend on Chelsea’s results during periods of congested fixtures, a close look at Lampard’s stats and why Chelsea’s league challenge has gone off the rails.

A very English team?
For years now Chelsea have been criticised for not fielding enough English players (which seems particularly galling when compared to Arsenal’s record, for example) but actually Chelsea’s English contingent form the backbone of the club’s success.

Of the 28 squad players who have made an appearance so far this season, seven (25%) have been English. Five of those players (Lampard, Sturridge, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole and Terry) have scored a total of 26 of the team’s 91 goals – nearly a third (29%). Similarly, those same players have contributed 35% of all assists. All going to plan, four over those players should travel to South Africa to represent England at the World Cup.

The ageing squad is creaking - Chelsea can’t cope with fixture congestion
Looking back over the season’s results, Chelsea’s worsening form neatly coincides with periods of particularly bad fixture congestion.

When totalling those games played in months where there have been six fixtures or less (and there have been four months – September, October, November and January) Chelsea have done well, winning 18 of 21 games (86%). Very respectable. In months where Chelsea have had seven fixtures or more (there have been two of those – December and February), performance has been decidedly worse, with Chelsea winning just five out of 15 games (33%). Not too good at all.

Make no mistake, it’s a very bad omen indeed. If Chelsea progress to the end of each competition (yes, I know that’s looking doubtful, especially in the Champions League), there are a possible 18 games remaining. With just over 10 weeks left until the last game of the season, that would mean Chelsea will be required to play an average of over 7 games a month in that time. And by way of a direct comparison, during December, when Chelsea played eight games, the record read won two, drew five, lost one. Eek. Perhaps our ageing squad is more of a problem than we think?

Lamps on target for 20
In more encouraging news, after a spate of goals over recent weeks Lampard now looks to be back on target to once again score 20 goals this season. He has currently scored 15 (albeit with six of them – 40% - coming from the penalty spot) from 37 appearances, averaging one every 2.5 games. If he continues scoring at this rate, he will need to play 49 games to go.

There are a guaranteed 12 games remaining (10 league games plus one Champions League, one FA Cup) which, coincidently, neatly adds up to 49. If Chelsea don’t progress in either cup, the pressure will be on Frank to maintain his current scoring rate if he wants to get 20 goals for an incredible fifth season in a row…

Lampard versus Scholes
Much was made of Paul Scholes scoring his 100 Premier League goal last week, joining a short list of esteemed players that includes Chelsea’s Frank Lampard. Scholes is rightly celebrated – he has been an excellent, world class player for Man Utd for many years. But it got me thinking…

In danger of going on (and on) about Frank Lampard, I thought it would be interesting to compare the scoring rate of both players. On the face of it, their records aren’t that different: Lampard made 100 Premier League goals in his 14^th season in the Premier League, Scholes in his 16^th.

Over the course of their careers, the picture changes slightly however. Lampard has a record of a goal every 3.8 games, Scholes one every 4.4. But six of Frank’s 15 seasons were at West Ham, where he only scored 24 goals over 148 appearances. In his nine seasons at Chelsea (including the current one), Lampard has scored 95 Premier League goals, averaging one every 3.3 games, over 90 minutes less than his Utd Counterpart. It took Lampard just nine seasons of top class football to reach pretty much the same total as Scholes has managed during his entire career.

Of course – before Utd fans get too irritated by the comparison – this is just one aspect of the game. There is certainly more to both Lampard and Scholes’ games than scoring goals, and potentially more so with the latter. But it is an interesting comparison nonetheless, and I suppose my argument is around how Lampard will hopefully be perceived in years to come. Like Scholes, he should be held in the highest esteem.

Terrible form since November points to failing title challenge
Why not end on a pessimistic point?

In the twelve league games since 1^st December, Chelsea have won seven games, drawn 3 and lost two, registering 24 points. That’s two points a game on average. If that rate was sustained over an entire season, Chelsea would only score 76 points, only enough to finish fourth in each of the last two seasons. Enough said.

Comments

[Alex Ferguson]

Any stats on whose got the most medals ??

[tom]

United fan here (thanks NewsNow) and whilst it's nice to see Scholes appreciated, I'd like to make a couple of points about your comparison between him and Lampard.
Firstly that Scholes has been playing in a much more deep lying role in the past 4-5 years so he can't be expected to score 20 goals a season like he used to.
Secondly Lampard takes penalties and free kicks, Scholes does not. That immediately skews the stats somewhat. Imagine how many more goals Scholes would have if he took set pieces and how many fewer Lampard would have if he didn't.
In any case I'm not coming on here to have a go at Lampard, just pointing out that stats can be misleading. I'll freely admit that Lampard has been a better goal scorer than Scholesy, although as a red, I'll obviously say Scholes is a far better player!

[Scholes100]

How many penalties has Lampard scored vs. how many penalties Scholes has scored would perhaps be a fair stat to put in there somewhere, since you are comparing them.

[thecat]

Can you subtract deflected goals whilst you're there.

[Dev]

As a box to box midfielder - tackling, energy midfielder I would give that to Lampard.

But as a finisher and an attacking midfielder - playmaking, accurate passing, technnique, finishing, there is no comparison, Sky sports showed how much ability Scholes has with his goals coming from his left foot, head, 6 yard box, he is a one-off. Regarded as the best by zidana, davids, henry etc. Lampard isn't fit enought to lace his boots. Half of lampards goals are penaties he can't finish like Scholes

[JS.]

@thecat: A ManU fan criticizing other teams for goals from deflected shots, how adorable.

[J Spencer]

Try comparing them to OG. What a player.