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Chelsea were able to celebrate a goal in front of their own fans for the first time since March
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard praised fans’ return to Stamford Bridge after his team beat Leeds on Saturday, but how much have they been missed by home teams?
The Blues were able to host 2,000 fans for the first time this season after the second national lockout was lifted.
Attendees saw Chelsea come back to win 3-1 against Leeds and rise to the top of the Premier League.
When asked if Chelsea fans are right to consider the Blues as title contenders, Lampard said: “There is nothing wrong with the fans thinking that, their turnout was huge, the noise they made tonight was huge. and you can see how excited they are.
“But my job and ours is not to get carried away, to know that it is a long season and to understand how much and where exactly we can improve.
“This was a big win for us though, so I’ll allow myself to enjoy the evening and have a small glass of wine, maybe even a large one to be fair, but I will certainly stand my ground.
“It’s amazing what 2000 can do. It has been a challenge without the fans and we needed [them back]. “
Chelsea had done well without the backing of their home support this season, winning three and losing just one of their six home games this season, but how much of an impact has the lack of fans had on the Premier League?
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Have the empty stadiums helped the visiting team? Clubs filled the void left by the lack of real fans on the grounds by placing cardboard cutouts of fans on the seats.
Managers and players will often talk about the twelfth man benefit, a term for a team’s supporters, and the extra rebound that their presence can provide a home team as they pursue a positive outcome.
Several months of empty grounds have provided an opportunity to see how they stack up to the packed stadium days before the arrival of Covid-19.
Data specialists Gracenote analyzed last season’s 288 Premier League games with crowds and the 190 played since June before this weekend.
They found:
- There is only a 3.7% difference between the number of wins at home and away without a crowd compared to 14.6% of last season’s games with a crowd. Winning percentage at home has decreased from 44.8% on the season last with a crowd at 41.6% for the games played this season and the last ones without spectators. Away wins have increased from 30.2% with spectators to 37.9% without them. Goals for home teams have been reduced from 1.51 goals per game to 1.48. shots per game more than visiting teams. Now, visiting teams receive 0.34 more free throws per game than home teams.
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Is it good to have fans back then?
However, there were mixed fortunes in the Premier League, with West Ham’s 3-1 loss to Manchester United in front of 2,000 fans at London Stadium before Chelsea’s victory at Stamford Bridge.
In the Championship, the fans’ return to Carrow Road coincided with leader Norwich maintaining their strong start with a 2-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, although they required two goals in the final nine minutes to do so. Did the fan factor change it?
Maybe. But there was not so much luck for Watford’s rising hopefuls, as their supporters returned to Vicarage Road only to witness a 1-0 loss to Cardiff City. Similarly, even though spectators are still not allowed at any sporting events in Wales, that did not stop Swansea from returning to the championship play-off venues.
And in League One? Well, Portsmouth swept Peterborough in front of 2,000 returning fans at Fratton Park to outrun their opponents in the promo venues, but both Northampton and Plymouth Argyle were left empty-handed despite being driven by their fans.
In League Two, Bolton Wanderers could probably have done it with some support, as they conceded six against Port Vale, although that did not help Tranmere, while Cheltenham Town fans received five goals from their side against Exeter, and eight in total.
All in all, it was a pretty mixed picture …
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Source: bbc.com
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