Manchester City would have been Relegated (Not Champions) if only Goals by English Players counted in the Premier League Liverpool had their hearts broken by Manchester City on Sunday as Manuel Pellegrinis side lifted the Barclays Premier League Trophy for the Second Time in Three Years - and deservedly so. City have been the Top-Flights Outstanding Team over the course of a season and it is hard to begrudge a team containing stars such as Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany their moment of Glory. But the multicultural side that clinched the title for City against West Ham contained just one Englishman in its starting line-up - goalkeeper Joe Hart - plus players from Argentina, Spain, Belgium, Serbia, France, Ivory Coast and Bosnia. And were it only goals from English players that counted this season, then the Premier League table would look really rather different; City would be far from champions - they would be relegated. Liverpool, led by England captain Steven Gerrard and boasting the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling in attack, would be champions after all. This table, of course, is purely hypothetical but it does make for interesting reading ahead of the World Cup in Brazil this summer. Using the English goals criteria, Citys 2-0 victory over West Ham on Sunday - secured by strikes from French midfielder Samir Nasri and Belgian defender Kompany - would be classed as a 0-0 draw, just one example of a game in which City would have dropped points in our hypothetical scenario as opposed to the real result. (And there would be quite a few more goalless draws across the league this season too). Apart from Hart, the only other English player to start more than 10 matches for City this season was midfielder James Milner, who has only one goal to his name. Either players born in England or who have played for the England team or its youth squads have been classed as English for this experiment. This altenative reality would have been good news for David Moyes. The Scot might still be in charge of Manchester United were only goals from English players to count, with United finishing in third place in our table and sealing Champions League football thanks to the likes of Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck. West Brom and Newcastle would have joined City in losing their top-flight status. But, as City fans will be quick to point out - it is still Kompany and Co who have spent the last few hours celebrating with the Premier League trophy, and quite right too. How the Premier League Table would look... if only Goals from Englishmen Counted Position Team Won Drawn Lost For Against Goal Difference Points Position change 1 Liverpool 23 13 2 49 17 32 82 +1 2 Southampton 20 13 5 38 12 26 73 +6 3 Man United 18 12 8 36 18 18 66 +4 4 Everton 14 20 4 19 10 9 62 +1 5 West Ham 12 18 8 29 20 9 54 +8 6 C. Palace 13 14 11 22 16 6 53 +5 7 Sunderland 11 17 10 21 18 3 50 +7 8 Cardiff 11 16 11 22 25 -3 49 +12 9 Chelsea 7 25 6 10 8 2 46 -6 10 Hull 8 22 8 17 16 1 46 +6 11 Arsenal 7 24 7 11 11 0 45 -7 12 Stoke 8 18 12 16 20 -4 42 -3 13 Norwich 6 23 9 14 21 -7 41 +5 14 Swansea 9 14 15 17 27 -10 41 -2 15 Tottenham 6 22 10 9 18 -9 40 -9 16 Fulham 6 19 13 17 34 -17 37 +3 17 Aston Villa 5 19 14 11 24 -13 34 -2 18 Man City 1 29 8 4 15 -11 32 -17 19 Newcastle 2 24 12 4 19 -15 30 -9 20 West Brom 4 16 18 7 24 -17 28 -3
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 06:03:55 +0000
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