RefWatch – Arsenal Vs Liverpool (Sat 20/08/2011 – 12:45) « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
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By DogFace
- Referee: Martin Atkinson
- Assistant 1: Peter Kirkup
- Assistant 2: Michael Mullarkey
- 4th Official: Michael Oliver
Good morning stat-fans and welcome to RefWatch…
It seems that we may have caused a wee bit of a stink with our unfashionable interest in the selection of match officials last season; so much so that the official PGMOL site remains static and unyielding of data with regards to the fixtures. Can we take the credit for this.. no – for it is not a matter of ‘credit’ – less transparency is a bad thing but with such isolation comes the silver lining of suspicion and ultimately the loss of credibility in the company leading to a public outcry and independent regulation.
We can dream eh!?
Anyhoo – I’ve found an alternate source, although I’m not 100% sure yet that it’s accurate so if an entirely different referee turns up to the match well… sorry. Although – to be fair, the PGMOL have chopped and changed referee’s last minute so many times without explanation (more than any other professional league to my knowledge) that it really makes no odds… in fact unofficial sources may actually prove to be more reliable.
Let’s have a look at who we reckon the Referee might be:
- Full name: Martin Atkinson
- Date of birth: 31-Mar-1971 (Age 40)
- Place of birth: Bradford
- Resides: West Yorkshire
- EPL Referee Since: 2004/2005
- EPL Games to date: 155
Rouf on a red, top of the head… any takers?
It’s Martin Atkinson again… you remember him; he’s the one that Wenger slapped upside the head after the Sunderland game when Darren Bent equalised 15 seconds after the allotted extra time… The scarlet side of Liverpool might recall him suggesting that Andy Carroll probably deserved the repeated kicking off the ball he got against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Hawthorns for daring to upset the desired score line… or for being a striker or whatever?!
Manchester United fans may recall him mugging them blind at the Bridge and, Scotsman, Slur Alex throwing an ironic wobbler… but that seems to be par for the course with Atkinson when he officiates in that particular venue. One could just as easily bitch about Webb at Old Trafford couldn’t one? But I degress…
…let’s check out his stats!
Martin Atkinson has had 15 games for Arsenal consisting of 8 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses.
Arsenal are currently in 3rd in Martin Atkinson’s personal Points Per Game League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the English Premier, with an average of 1.93 PPG.
In Martin Atkinson’s personal Handicap Swing League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the English Premier, Arsenal come 3rd with an average positive swing of 0.63.
Arsenal are currently in 11th in Martin Atkinson’s personal Booking’s Per Match League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the English Premier, with an overall average of 1.80 BPM.
In Martin Atkinson’s personal Fouls Per Booking League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the English Premier, Arsenal come 15th with an overall average of 5.93 FPB.
Martin Atkinson has had 20 games for Liverpool consisting of 8 wins, 6 draws and 6 losses.
Liverpool are currently in 10th in Martin Atkinson’s personal Points Per Game League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the English Premier, with an average of 1.50 PPG.
In Martin Atkinson’s personal Handicap Swing League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the English Premier, Liverpool come 7th with an average positive swing of 0.18.
Liverpool are currently in 10th in Martin Atkinson’s personal Booking’s Per Match League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the English Premier, with an overall average of 1.75 BPM.
In Martin Atkinson’s personal Fouls Per Booking League (for teams with a minimum of 5 matches played), for matches in the English Premier, Liverpool come 11th with an overall average of 6.71 FPB.
Let’s move on now to check out how Martin Atkinson performs against selected teams in the EPL:
As you can see we look OK in this and Chelsea (given comments I made earlier) look OK but don’t appear all that great – this is a handicap swing and does not correlate to the average PPG in which, despite sometimes underachieving against the handicap, they come a clear #1 with an astounding average of 2.85 PPG. So the question is, or could be (if we dare to theorise a conflict of interest [this season] between Atkinson and Abramovich’s plaything), do Liverpool or Arsenal represent any threat to Chelsea’s title ambitions and/or do Chelsea have any title abmitions this season? Time will tell no doubt.
Back to reality; Liverpool’s AHS reflects about ‘to form’ (from Atkinson) and there seems to be a slight Southern bias in terms of team AHS from the Yorkshire man.
The Predictortron gives us a 0.704167 of a goal advantage, but as we have said many a time before – look at the fixture time of this match. You can throw the form book for both team and referee when it comes to game with this kind of exposure – and look at the teams! Oh yes – this is going to be big one in the Asian markets! So if I were a betting man I would forget everything I have just said – take you best guess and go completely the other way.
Let’s hope it’s an ‘over’ game eh!