Latest news with #Opta
BBC News
3 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Who does Opta think has the toughest first five games?
Opta has ranked the difficulty of each top-flight team's first five Premier League fixtures of the 2025-26 to Opta's model, Manchester United have the hardest start, followed by their opening-weekend opponents Arsenal and then Villa's first five games have been ranked the easiest, alongside Crystal a look below to see where your side places...
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Opta supercomputer reveals who has the hardest start to the new Premier League season as fixtures are released - and it's bad news for Ruben Amorim and Mikel Arteta!
Manchester United have been handed the most nightmarish start to the Premier League season of any club, according to stats boffins Opta. Ruben Amorim 's men will host Arsenal on the opening weekend and also have Manchester City away and Chelsea at home in their first five fixtures. Opta use their Power Rankings database to grade the difficulty of each club out of 100, consider whether a team is playing home or away, and then given an 'average opponent rating'. United, who also face Fulham away and Burnley at home, have been handed a whopping average opponent rating of 94.6. Arsenal have apparently been handed the second-toughest five-game salvo to kick off the campaign. They kick off against United away, then play Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, and Man City to accrue an average opponent rating of 94. Getting off to a good start is important - Manchester City in 2021-22 are the only one of the last 12 Premier League champions to lose on the opening day, doing so 1-0 to Tottenham. And Aston Villa and Crystal Palace will be licking their lips after being handed the easiest opening salvo of games according to Opta. Unai Emery's men start off tough with a home clash against Newcastle before assignments against Brentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, and Sunderland. Oliver Glasner's side, meanwhile, launch their campaign away at Chelsea before playing Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Sunderland, and West Ham. The numbers will be slightly skewed by the fact they are both playing Sunderland, who only get a rating of 82.3 - by far the lowest in the Premier League. Indeed, all of the 'luckiest' five teams in Opta's rankings face Sunderland, who won the Championship play-offs, in one of their first five games. Chelsea's start of Crystal Palace, West Ham, Fulham, Brentford, and Manchester United comes in sixth-easiest but is perhaps the kindest on balance, given Sunderland's stray score. Meanwhile, reigning champions Liverpool have the fifth-hardest score of 93.3. Opta have a rating for each team and calculated the average difficult of each club's opponents Podcast All episodes Play on Apple Spotify Arne Slot's men will raise the curtain on the new season by hosting Bournemouth on Friday, August 15. They will then play Newcastle away, Arsenal at home, Burnley on the road and Everton at Anfield. As for Manchester City, they're slap-bang in the middle of the grid with the 10th-hardest opening. They have one of the easier tasks on the first weekend as they visit Wolves, but they also face Tottenham, Brighton, Manchester United and Arsenal - a run which you might think is sterner than middle-of-the-pack difficulty.
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
CONCACAF Gold Cup 2025: US ends 4-game losing streak with a 5-0 over Trinidad
Malik Tillman scored twice as the United States built a three-goal, first-half lead and ended a four-game losing streak by routing Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 on Sunday in a CONCACAF God Cup opener. Tillman scored in the 16th and 41st minutes for his first two international goals, both following giveaways by Alvin Jones, and Patrick Agyemang scored his fourth international goal in the 44th. Brenden Aaronson added his ninth goal in the 82nd and Haji Wright his fifth just 1 minute, 13 seconds later as the 16th-ranked Americans overwhelmed the No. 100 Soca Warriors and ended their longest losing streak since 2007. Victory in the Group D opener came after days of controversy over Christian Pulisic's desire to rest during the Gold Cup and coach Mauricio Pochettino not including the star in a pair of pre-tournament friendlies the attacker offered to play in. The U.S. had 70.4 per cent possession and a 21-3 advantage in shots against the Soca Warriors, whose 2-1 home win against the Americans in 2017 ended a streak of seven straight World Cup appearances by the U.S. The Americans have won their group in 16 of 17 Gold Cups, along with a second-place finish behind Panama in 2011, and improved their group stage record to 41 wins, one loss and five draws. They play invited guest Saudi Arabia on Thursday at Austin, Texas, then close group play on June 22 against Haiti at Arlington, Texas. MORE FROM CONCACAF GOLD CUP 2025 — Mexico beats Dominican Republic 3-2 in opener Matt Freese was in goal in place Matt Turner, who had started 14 consecutive competitive matches for the U.S. and 23 of 24 dating to the 2022 World Cup. The lone exception was a Gold Cup group stage game against St. Kitts and Nevis in 2023. Missing Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Gio Reyna, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun and Sergiño Dest, the U.S. starting line-up averaged 14.8 international appearances. That was the second-fewest for the Americans in a Gold Cup opener behind 9.8 against Bermuda in 2009, according to Opta. Adams (turf toe), Johnny Cardoso and Damion Downs (both illness) remained out of the matchday squad. Defender Tim Ream started, extending his Gold Cup span for the U.S. to 14 years and surpassing DaMarcus Beasley (2002-15) for the American high. Trinidad, coached by former star Dwight Yorke, has lost four of its last five games and has been outscored 46-0 in its last 13 games against the U.S. on American soil. In the other Group D game, Saudi Arabia beat Haiti 1-0 at San Diego as Saleh Al-Shehri converted a 21st-minute penalty kick after Frantzdy Pierrot pulled him down by his jersey.
Hamilton Spectator
5 days ago
- Sport
- Hamilton Spectator
US ends 4-game losing streak, routs Trinidad 5-0 in Gold Cup opener as Malik Tillman scores twice
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Malik Tillman scored twice as the United States built a three-goal, first-half lead and ended a four-game losing streak by routing Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 on Sunday in a CONCACAF God Cup opener. Tillman scored in the 16th and 41st minutes for his first two international goals, both following giveaways by Alvin Jones, and Patrick Agyemang scored his fourth international goal in the 44th. Brenden Aaronson added his ninth goal in the 82nd and Haji Wright his fifth just 1 minute, 13 seconds later as the 16th-ranked Americans overwhelmed the No. 100 Soca Warriors and ended their longest losing streak since 2007. Victory in the Group D opener came after days of controversy over Christian Pulisic's desire to rest during the Gold Cup and coach Mauricio Pochettino not including the star in a pair of pre-tournament friendlies the attacker offered to play in. The U.S. had 70.5% possession and a 21-3 advantage in shots against the Soca Warriors, whose 2-1 home win against the Americans in 2017 ended a streak of seven straight World Cup appearances by the U.S. The Americans have won their group in 16 of 17 Gold Cups, along with a second-place finish behind Panama in 2011, and improved their group stage record to 41 wins, one loss and five draws. They play invited guest Saudi Arabia on Thursday at Austin, Texas, then close group play on June 22 against Haiti at Arlington, Texas. Matt Freese was in goal in place Matt Turner, who had started 14 consecutive competitive matches for the U.S. and 23 of 24 dating to the 2022 World Cup. The lone exception was a Gold Cup group stage game against St. Kitts and Nevis in 2023. Missing Pulisic , Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Gio Reyna, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams , Folarin Balogun and Sergiño Dest , the U.S. starting lineup averaged 14.8 international appearances. That was the second-fewest for the Americans in a Gold Cup opener behind 9.8 against Bermuda in 2009, according to Opta. Adams (turf toe), Johnny Cardoso and Damion Downs (both illness) didn't dress. Defender Tim Ream started, extending his Gold Cup span for the U.S. to 14 years and surpassing DaMarcus Beasley (2002-15) for the American high. Trinidad, coached by former star Dwight Yorke, has lost four of its last five games. ___ AP soccer:
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
US ends 4-game losing streak, routs Trinidad 5-0 in Gold Cup opener as Malik Tillman scores twice
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Malik Tillman scored twice as the United States built a three-goal, first-half lead and ended a four-game losing streak by routing Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 on Sunday in a CONCACAF God Cup opener. Tillman scored in the 16th and 41st minutes for his first two international goals, both following giveaways by Alvin Jones, and Patrick Agyemang scored his fourth international goal in the 44th. Brenden Aaronson added his ninth goal in the 82nd and Haji Wright his fifth just 1 minute, 13 seconds later as the 16th-ranked Americans overwhelmed the No. 100 Soca Warriors and ended their longest losing streak since 2007. Victory in the Group D opener came after days of controversy over Christian Pulisic's desire to rest during the Gold Cup and coach Mauricio Pochettino not including the star in a pair of pre-tournament friendlies the attacker offered to play in. The U.S. had 70.5% possession and a 21-3 advantage in shots against the Soca Warriors, whose 2-1 home win against the Americans in 2017 ended a streak of seven straight World Cup appearances by the U.S. The Americans have won their group in 16 of 17 Gold Cups, along with a second-place finish behind Panama in 2011, and improved their group stage record to 41 wins, one loss and five draws. They play invited guest Saudi Arabia on Thursday at Austin, Texas, then close group play on June 22 against Haiti at Arlington, Texas. Matt Freese was in goal in place Matt Turner, who had started 14 consecutive competitive matches for the U.S. and 23 of 24 dating to the 2022 World Cup. The lone exception was a Gold Cup group stage game against St. Kitts and Nevis in 2023. Missing Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Gio Reyna, Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams, Folarin Balogun and Sergiño Dest, the U.S. starting lineup averaged 14.8 international appearances. That was the second-fewest for the Americans in a Gold Cup opener behind 9.8 against Bermuda in 2009, according to Opta. Adams , Johnny Cardoso and Damion Downs didn't dress. Defender Tim Ream started, extending his Gold Cup span for the U.S. to 14 years and surpassing DaMarcus Beasley for the American high. Trinidad, coached by former star Dwight Yorke, has lost four of its last five games. soccer: /hub/soccer
