Penalty Trends in Premier League. And, are Referees partial towards the 'Big Four'?

 In light of the latest accusations of diving in the box levelled against Manchester United’s Ashley Young and social media sites buzzing with jokes of certain referees being legends of clubs for giving too many penalties to particular clubs, I decided to analyse penalty trends in recent Premier League seasons. Are the referees really partial towards traditional big four clubs, i.e. Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea?

GRAPH: El Clásico Goal Timings

This is my third post in the El Clásico series and natably, all three have been visualisations. Here's a graph showing the number of goals scored in a given minute of a match between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Thanks to Infostrada Sports (Follow them on Twitter) for providing all the data required for this graph.

GRAPHIC: Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo 2011-12

As Barcelona host free scoring Real Madrid at the Camp Nou in a Matchday 34 fixture, two of the most prolific goalscorers in recent years go tête-à-tête. Here's how the two geniuses have displayed their prolifacy this season:

INFOGRAPHIC: El Clasico

EL CLASICO. The slightest notion of the term is enough to set sparks flying between the fan bases of two of the fiercest rivals in Spain and, if I may add, in Europe. But for a person like me, a glutton for good football, the day of the fixture is a much coveted one.

Here's an infographic illustrating the Clasico history briefly. Thanks to the wonderful people at Infostrada Sports (Follow them on Twitter) for providing statistical data and for their support.

BVB vs. Bayern: The Battle of Marios

European sports media is buzzing with names of three Marios frequently embellishing headlines - one for his antics and attention-seeking 'abilities,' another for his goal scoring prolificacy and the last one, a teenager, for his on-field wizardry at such a tender age.

You guessed it! Balotelli, Gomez and Gotze. And the latter duo takes to the pitch tomorrow as Borussia Dortmund take on Bayern Munich in what could be touted as a title-deciding clash. I have put together a few figures to compare their performance in the on-going season.

Market value estimates via transfrmarkt.de.

Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich: Match Preview

Germany's most successful club, Bayern Munich travel to the Signal Iduna Park to take on current league leaders Borussia Dortmund in what seems to be a do-or-die game. This fixture certainly stands out as one of the must-watch games in Europe this midweek as both teams go into this match following tight wins on Good Friday. 

Liverpool vs. Aston Villa: Match Facts and Team News

Kenny Dalglish's side look to reverse their poor form as they take on Aston Villa, who showed promise of a comeback against Chelsea.

Chelsea vs. Wigan: Match Facts and Team News

Chelsea face strugglers Wigan Athletic at the Stamford Bridge on Easter's Eve. Here's a quick preview and a few match facts ahead of the fixture.

Premier League: Possession in Matchweek 31

Matchweek 31 in the Premier League was, as every previous week had been, exciting and thrilling. Teams showed promise to fight back and the likes of Fernando Torres got back on the score sheets.

Well, you might have heard pundits and commentators say this before - "The scoreline does not tell the entire story of the game" - and read in innumerable articles that 'Ball Possession' narrates the untold part of the story. Matchweek 31 portrayed just that.

Exactly half of all games last weekend, 5 out of 10, were won by sides that had lesser ball possession. In another game, Man City drew with Sunderland even though they had seen much more of the ball. Arsenal were the unluckiest of the lot, losing to QPR in the London Derby despite having had more than twice the possession of the newly promoted club.

English Premier League: Leads And Trails

Liverpool’s recent 3-2 loss to QPR after leading by 2 goals and Arsenal comeback streak a few weeks ago have proven the established fact that opening the scoring and taking a comfortable lead does not decide the winner.

As is human tendency, teams become lethargic after taking the lead, especially if it’s more than one goal, because they think they have the 3 points in the bag and feel liberated. On the flipside, the trailing team takes its chances, however bleak the prospects be, and often take points off the team in lead. Though, this “often” is a minority, it is not negligible. There have been quite a few instances this season where the team to score first have lost all three points and some notable ones too. Here, I aim to analyse this minority in detail.