Super Saver: Why Sunderland should be thankful for its super keeper
Aye, it’s me once again, Bob Friendly! The games are coming thick and fast as we reach the business end of the table. Who will win the league? Who will go crashing out with Villa? Here at Scottish Friendly, we of course care about the goalkeepers the most as they are the ones that help save us a bit of cash.
People in the North East must be mad. Not only are Newcastle yet to experience the Rafa effect, Sunderland just can’t get out of the relegation zone. Both teams won at the weekend, though Sunderland didn’t deserve to by our reckoning, so they have a lot to thank their keeper for.
Newcastle, on the other hand, are paying the price for their poor play earlier this season. Their goalies have faced a total of 162 shots, so it is no wonder they are eight places worse off in the league than they should be! They may want to get a keeper like Sunderland has who can win them games, but let’s not say that to any of the Toon.
Let’s see how our own league is getting on as we head towards the end of the season. The Champions League places are really heating up!
| Team | W | D | L | Shots on target + | Shots on target – | Shots + / – |
Pts | League table + / – |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tottenham | 27 | 3 | 4 | 231 | 96 | 135 | 84 | 1 |
| Man City | 23 | 4 | 6 | 187 | 98 | 89 | 73 | 1 |
| Liverpool | 22 | 4 | 6 | 165 | 110 | 55 | 70 | 5 |
| Arsenal | 19 | 5 | 9 | 185 | 135 | 50 | 62 | 0 |
| Leicester | 19 | 4 | 11 | 155 | 127 | 28 | 61 | -4 |
| Southampton | 18 | 5 | 11 | 147 | 117 | 30 | 59 | 1 |
| West Ham | 18 | 4 | 11 | 154 | 146 | 8 | 58 | -1 |
| Bournemouth | 14 | 7 | 13 | 131 | 138 | -7 | 49 | 5 |
| Man United | 14 | 6 | 13 | 119 | 113 | 6 | 48 | -4 |
| Chelsea | 15 | 2 | 16 | 146 | 150 | -4 | 47 | 0 |
| Newcastle | 13 | 3 | 17 | 128 | 162 | -34 | 42 | 8 |
| Crystal Palace | 13 | 2 | 17 | 132 | 139 | -7 | 41 | 4 |
| West Brom | 12 | 4 | 17 | 92 | 129 | -37 | 40 | 1 |
| Swansea | 10 | 8 | 16 | 119 | 145 | -26 | 38 | 1 |
| Stoke | 11 | 4 | 19 | 113 | 147 | -34 | 37 | -6 |
| Everton | 10 | 6 | 16 | 146 | 146 | 0 | 36 | -5 |
| Norwich | 11 | 3 | 19 | 114 | 148 | -34 | 36 | 0 |
| Watford | 9 | 5 | 20 | 113 | 145 | -32 | 32 | -6 |
| Sunderland | 7 | 3 | 23 | 119 | 192 | -73 | 24 | -1 |
| Aston Villa | 7 | 2 | 25 | 100 | 168 | -68 | 23 | 0 |
How the table works
Here at Scottish Friendly we thought we would highlight just how important keepers are to a team, after all they are savers in their own right! We imagine each game without keepers and take the number of shots on target by each team as the result. By looking at it this way, we can see which goalies have been busy winning their team points, while also finding out which ones are holding their team back.