ANALYSIS: Sunderland and Arsenal fly flag for youth; Fulham and Chelsea opt for oldies
sportingintelligence832.substack.com
By Brian Sears 9 September 2010 After all the talk last season that Chelsea had an old team in need of freshening up, they won the title, scoring record numbers of goals in the process. So just as “you’ll win nothing with kids” turned out to be off the mark, a mature side shouldn’t be written off. On that basis, Fulham and Chelsea, having fielded teams so far this season with the oldest average ages (29.3 years) should be respected for their maturity. At the other end of the spectrum, Sunderland have started the 2010-11 season fielding the youngest starting line-ups in the whole of the Premier League. The side that kicked off the season against Birmingham at the Stadium of Light had an average age of under 25, although some of the players used since have boosted that to 25.2 years old on average, still more than four years younger than Chelsea’s average. Arsene Wenger’s young Gunners, aged 25.8 years, are the next youngest team (so far), and sit second in the Premier League table at this early stage of the season, intent on showing the kids are alright.
ANALYSIS: Sunderland and Arsenal fly flag for youth; Fulham and Chelsea opt for oldies
ANALYSIS: Sunderland and Arsenal fly flag for…
ANALYSIS: Sunderland and Arsenal fly flag for youth; Fulham and Chelsea opt for oldies
By Brian Sears 9 September 2010 After all the talk last season that Chelsea had an old team in need of freshening up, they won the title, scoring record numbers of goals in the process. So just as “you’ll win nothing with kids” turned out to be off the mark, a mature side shouldn’t be written off. On that basis, Fulham and Chelsea, having fielded teams so far this season with the oldest average ages (29.3 years) should be respected for their maturity. At the other end of the spectrum, Sunderland have started the 2010-11 season fielding the youngest starting line-ups in the whole of the Premier League. The side that kicked off the season against Birmingham at the Stadium of Light had an average age of under 25, although some of the players used since have boosted that to 25.2 years old on average, still more than four years younger than Chelsea’s average. Arsene Wenger’s young Gunners, aged 25.8 years, are the next youngest team (so far), and sit second in the Premier League table at this early stage of the season, intent on showing the kids are alright.