Had an idea the other day to look at the performances of each Premiership team when playing the more physical teams, as compared to their results against other teams.
Obviously some teams find it hard to play against 'in-your-face' teams, whereas other teams seem to relish it. If we can find out which teams prefer which opposition, and by how much, then we can surely find plenty of value bets.
The following table shows each teams individual performance versus the top 9 teams in Opta's foul play league, and their performances against other 11 teams.
The teams are listed in current league order. The ppg columns show the average points per game. The 2 columns on the far right hand side - the first one is the difference between the teams performance v physical and non-physical teams (the black positive figures show the team performs better against physical teams, the red negative teams show they perform better against the lesser physical teams) and the end column shows the difference in percentage terms....1.00 would show an identical record v physical and non-physical teams, so Man Utd have a 7% better record v physical teams (1.07) whereas Liverpool perform better against the less physical teams (0.86).
The next table shows the table rearranged in order of the teams who perform best against the physical teams...
Any views or comments appreciated.