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Tottenham Hotspur Links: Away Teams are Successful this Season

By Alexander Balano

Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /
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It’s time for the latest Tottenham Hotspur Links edition.

Here’s what’s on tap for the day. Up first, Premier League clubs are on pace to record the best away wins percentage ever in English football. But while away wins are on the rise, it hasn’t necessarily worked in Tottenham’s favor this season.

Next, Hugo Lloris has said no one is panicking right now on this team. Yes a late 2-1 home against Newcastle was disappointing but after a couple of days have passed and Tottenham began training to face Southampton, they were ready to get back to winning ways. And lastly, West Brom and Spurs have officially been fined by the English Football Association for their scuffle with referee Jon Moss. To the links.

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This season has already seen 52 away wins by Premier League clubs with only seven more home wins (59 home wins). There has been a constant fluctuation of away wins percentage since the 2011-12 season through the 2014-15 as the chart from Sky Sports shows below.

What do these numbers represent? As Adam Smith and Peter Smith have written away wins are on the rise whereas home wins are slowly starting to decline:

"“In fact, the Premier League is seeing a continuous rise in away wins year-on-year.”“In 2010/11 just 23.68 percent of results were away wins. That increased to 30.53 percent in 2011/12 and, after a dip in 2012/13, has consistently been above 30 percent.”“This season away wins are at 33.75 percent. If that percentage is maintained until the end of the season it will be the most dominant season for away teams in the history of English football.”"

How do away wins pertain to Tottenham this season in the Premier League? Not good actually. Here are the results below this season.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Away Record 2015-16 season:

  • Matchday 1: Manchester United | Loss (1-0)
  • Matchday 3: Leicester City | Draw (2-2)
  • Matchday 5: Sunderland | Win (1-0)
  • Matchday 8: Swansea City | Draw (2-2)
  • Matchday 10: Bournemouth | Win (5-1)
  • Matchday 12: Arsenal | Draw (1-1)
  • Matchday 15: West Brom | Draw (1-1)

Spurs’ overall away record during the ’15-’16 season: 2W-4D-1L

It should be noted that while Tottenham still own a six-game unbeaten run while on the road since losing to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Spurs have managed to let three games slip away from them after scoring first — twice early (Arsenal and West Brom) and once late (Leicester).

Heading back to the south coast, but this time to St. Mary’s Stadium against Southampton, it won’t be an easy game even though the Saints have lost four out of five games in all competitions and sport a five-game winless streak (0W-1D-4L).

A 2-1 home loss to Newcastle United this past Sunday (December 13) caused disappointment all around White Hart Lane from the supporters to the coaches and the players themselves. But what no one did was panic, despite having their best chance to leapfrog Manchester United. Here’s Hugo Lloris speaking about the game:

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“It was positive in the dressing room after Newcastle,” said Lloris. “We had a chat together and tried to understand what happened in the second half.”

“At half-time [1-0 up] everyone was positive and wanted to win the game but at the end, we didn’t respond. I’m not worried about the Newcastle game. It was an opportunity but we missed it.”

“There will be other opportunities and the only thing that matters is to be where we want to be at the end of the season — and the season is still very young.”

“There is no panic but we all know we need to get back to winning ways. We demand a lot of effort from each other and we’ve had a good week to prepare [for Southampton].”

Saturday’s game (December 19) against Southampton will continue a busy schedule that won’t end until after an away fixture at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace (January 23). Beating Southampton will help Tottenham get back into a groove. Another loss though might help Spurs stagnate during the holidays.

Following a scuffle between both teams on December 5th, Tottenham has been fined £25,000 and West Brom has been fined £20,000. How Spurs got fined more money than West Brom even though their considered the victims in this case is unknown. But that’s what the English FA (Football Association) deemed was appropriate apparently.

To recap the events of what happened, around the 84th minute, both teams confronted referee Jon Moss after James McClean tackled through Mousa Dembélé late and with both studs up. McClean didn’t receive a red card after his actions, which is why all of Tottenham’s players stormed Jon Moss.

Next: Key Battles: Southampton v Spurs

Baggies players also sought out Moss and began arguing over his decision to call the play back because it hurt their momentum for a possible goal. In all honesty, West Brom do have a legitimate reason to be upset because Jon Moss did originally opt to wave the foul off and continue the play. But at the same time, it was clearly a foul. Also, it didn’t help that West Brom had a similar breach within the preceding 12 months according to the Guardian, so there’s that too.

"“West Bromwich Albion’s charge was heard by an independent regulatory commission because the club had a similar breach of FA Rule E20(a) within the preceding 12 months.”"