Ever wondered which Premier League teams have the best records with or against 10 men? The numbers have been crunched, and here are the answers.
The Premier League sees red cards issued on a regular basis. Over the past five full seasons there was an average of 55 per year. Only one matchweek in the first nine of 2017-18 has not had one either.
But how do teams get on once they’re reduced to 10 men? The numbers have been crunched by the team at Bet Bonus Code, and the stats make for interesting reading.
In total, there were 275 occasions (out of a possible 3,800) in the last five years where a team went down to 10 men. Of those, the team who received the red card won 57 games, for a win rate of 21 percent.
Of course, the number of games played featuring a sending off and the win rate varies a lot from team to team. Despite spending last season in the Championship, Newcastle played the most top flight matches with 10 men in the past five seasons.
The Magpies suffered this fate 22 times. Next in line were Arsenal, Sunderland and West Ham, who all had 18 games where they went down to 10. The Gunners had a very impressive win rate of 44 percent when a man down, and they spent the most time — 615 minutes — with 10 men too. Their win rate in such matches is not the best in the Premier League, though.
If we leave aside Middlesbrough’s one win from one game, Manchester City fared best. The Citizens won an impressive seven times from 10 games when receiving a red card.
City also received the earliest red card; Vincent Kompany was sent off after just 10 minutes at Hull in 2013-14, but they still won the match. City scored in nine of the 10 games in which they received a red card.
United don’t score when a man down
This is in stark contrast to their fierce rivals, Manchester United. The Red Devils failed to score after any of their 12 red cards in the past half decade, but they did at least manage to win two of the matches.
There were seven teams who didn’t win a match when going down to ten, though two of them only did so on one occasion. The kings of the 10 men capitulation were Stoke City. The Potters played 16 times with 10 men, without registering a single victory. Here’s the full table of 10 man stats.
The team who had the most players sent off against them is perhaps a surprising one. You’d probably expect it to be one of the big six teams, as they do the most attacking. Yet it was West Ham who lead the way, having seen their opponents receive a total of 22 red cards.
Chelsea were just behind on 21 though, and the Blues won 86 percent of those matches. This was the joint-best win rate when a man up, as Spurs did likewise.
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By contrast, Burnley didn’t win any of the five matches where they faced 10 men, and the Clarets conceded the most goals per game (0.6) too.
Swansea might not have the best defensive record in the Premier League, but they do when it comes to having a man advantage. The Swans played 10 men on 10 occasions, and didn’t concede a single goal following the red card.
On average, teams lost 59 percent of the time when they had a man sent off. But the figures here show that you shouldn’t automatically give up hope if your team goes down to 10.