West Ham second, Arsenal eighth and Man Utd in relegation zone in alternative table | Football | Sport
Manchester City may not have been able to knock Arsenal off of the top of the table at the weekend, though they do lead the Fair Play table. Pep Guardiola’s side went down to ten men against Fulham over the weekend but the consequences of that still did not knock them off their perch.
City have a fair play tally of 14 points – with Transfermarkt scoring yellow points as being worth one point, a red card for two bookable offences valuing three points and a straight red card is worth five. The Etihad Stadium outfit enjoy large spells of possession meaning that there is very little time for them to be getting stuck into tackles – averaging just 7.6 per game, the least in the league.
Despite their defensive tactics, West Ham occupies second spot in the league with 16 points, ahead of Liverpool in third with 17 points. Brighton are joint on points with the Reds, though they are yet to go down to ten men so far this season.
Leicester, Brentford and Newcastle make up the top seven, with Arsenal’s 21 yellow cards so far this season putting them in eighth. Southampton are in ninth, though whether they drop down the table after a new manager enters the dugout and calls for a more aggressive mentality remains to be seen.
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Bournemouth are tenth in the fair play league on 22 points, with Gary O’Neil managing to keep a lid on his players despite the frustrations of conceding last-minute winners in their last two matches against Tottenham and Leeds. It is Jesse Marsch’s Whites who sit beneath them in the table on 26 points, a tally they will potentially be pleased with given that they concede the most fouls on average per game in the league (13.2).
Crystal Palace, Tottenham and Chelsea all sit in midtable, with the latter being one of the few teams to have been shown two red cards so far this season – with Conor Gallagher and Kalidou Koulibaly both being given their marching orders. Everton are just one place above their real spot in the Premier League in 15th, with all of their 32 points being accrued by yellow cards.
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Aston Villa were shown three yellow cards against Manchester United over the weekend as Unai Emery took to the dugout for the first time, moving them down to 16th in the fair play table. Nottingham Forest sits just outside the relegation zone in the table on 35 points.
Erik ten Hag’s United has spoken earlier this season about how his team need to limit their bookings, though his stars are yet to prove that they have listened as they are the third-most booked team in the league on 36 points.
Fulham are beneath them on 40 points, with their tally being bumped up by Nathaniel Chalobah’s red card after eight minutes against Newcastle last month. Wolves are rock-bottom of the fair play table on 41 points, with back-to-back red cards in their last two league matches seeing them plummet in the rankings.
