The Half Time Premier League

We all know that a regular game of football is 90 minutes. If your team wins that contest within a league environment, the three points are yours, and although any victory is only ratified with the final whistle, their efforts in the first half can be just as important.

Should they get out of the blocks quickly, an early advantage not only gives them something to build on but also places their opponents in a position where they have to respond. Sometimes, that team may have the answer and turn things around after the interval.

On other occasions, the status quo remains, and the advantage established before half-time proves decisive. Just how important is the score after 45 minutes? Our half-time Premier League table may have the answers.

A table that is as simple as it sounds: by taking the 100 matches that have been contested in this season’s Premier League and freezing the clock at 45 minutes (and whatever added time) to capture the final score, here is what the current standings would look like:

Fantastic reading if you are a Bournemouth fan, and although Marco Rose’s men are now finding their feet after a slow start to his tenure at the Vitality Stadium, the Cherries are the kings of the first half this season.

If each of the 10 league games were completed after 45 minutes of action, Bournemouth would have 23 points to their name. A tally collected courtesy of seven wins, two draws and just a solitary defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

Much has been made of three points of the Premier League’s Bermuda Triangle this season, and the second of its three sides finds itself imitating its current efforts at the final whistle. Brighton are five points behind Arsenal at present; they are also four points behind Bournemouth in our chart.

Fabian Hurzeler’s men have picked up six half-time wins from their first 10 matches and have also scored 14 goals in just 450 minutes of football. That equates to a goal every 32 minutes for the Seagulls.

The East Sussex outfit are two half-time points better off than Aston Villa, and although they were denied maximum points in that dramatic eight-goal thriller with Manchester United at Old Trafford, their half-time record sees Unai Emery’s men sit third in the table.

Last season’s Europa League winners have only lost one of their first 10 league outings at the break. The only blot on their copybook to date was the 4-0 thrashing at the hands of high-scoring Brighton – a game that saw no further goals after the break.

The Villa sit one point better off than Brentford in fourth, and it is the Bees who have the joint-best defensive record in the division after 45 minutes. They, along with Everton in 12^th, have only conceded two goals across their 10 half-time fixtures.

Which takes us to the current league leaders, Arsenal and although they are top of the table when it comes to a standard duration of competitive action, the Gunners only sit fifth in the standings when it comes to half-time scores.

Mikel Arteta’s men have had to make do with a stalemate at the interval on no fewer than six occasions, and like Aston Villa in third, their only defeat at the break was at the hands of Brighton at The Amex.

AT THE BOTTOM

At the other end of the table, it does bode well for Crystal Palace. The Eagles are bottom of the table at the international break; they also find themselves bottom when it comes to contesting matches across 45 minutes.

The South London outfit have picked up just five points from the 30 that are on offer in our sample. Not only do they sit bottom of the standings, but they have also conceded the most goals in the division with 12.

Strangely enough, last season’s Conference League winners have conceded 24 goals in total after 10 full-length Premier League matches this season. This equates to a neat 50/50 split of goals in the first and second half.

Above Palace, there is a North East flavour to the relegation zone, and if the league were decided in this format, it would be bad news for both Newcastle and Sunderland as the two local rivals currently sit 18^th and 19^th in the half-time table.

Then again, it is only alphabetical order which is keeping Manchester United out of the bottom three. If there were to be a playoff between the Red Devils and the Magpies to see who stays up, you would probably be putting your money on the latter to get the job done.

The half-time table gives us a snapshot of how teams perform during the opening 45 minutes of the game, but the comparison becomes even more interesting when we look at what happens after the interval.

By subtracting each team's first-half record from their overall Premier League statistics, we can isolate the contribution made during the second half of matches. This allows us to see where teams improve or fall away in the game’s later stages.

The figures below show the difference between each team's first-half output and their overall season record, giving us a clearer picture of who is making their mark after the break.

After the break, we can see that this is where the Arsenal squad earn their money. Fifth in the first-half table, four places better off in the second. Their three wins at the break were subsequently converted into their current tally of nine.

This means that the Gunners are 12 points better off at the final whistle than they are at the break. Five points better off than the team with the next best record of improvement in the second half, as Manchester City have moved from seventh into third with an additional seven points to their name.

The biggest takeaway from this table is the fact that Bournemouth have given away the most points after the break. Whereas they earned 23 points if their league games ended after 45 minutes, they have handed eight of those back at the final whistle.

23 points have shrunk to 15, and this also means that the Cherries have slipped from first to seventh place when having to contest an additional total of 450 Premier League minutes at the start of this season.

Ultimately, football may be a game of two halves, but the importance of each is there for all to see. Arsenal have demonstrated an ability to turn promising half-time positions into maximum points, while Bournemouth have discovered that a strong opening 45 minutes counts for little if you cannot maintain that advantage.

The Cherries remain the kings of the first half, but the Gunners are showing what happens after the interval makes the difference between a good start and a successful finish. After all, there are no prizes for winning the first 45 minutes; the real rewards only come when the final whistle blows.