ANALYSE THIS: Euro Club Index makes unfamiliar opponents familar

FOOTBALL – The reaction to Manchester United’s defeat by FC Midtjylland has been one of shock with the English club being derided as “dismal” in the media and the display described as “unacceptable” by one of United’s own players, Michael Carrick. Five days earlier, United lost by a similar scoreline to Sunderland without the same level of criticism from either outside or within. According to the Euro Club Index, Danish champions FC Midtjylland are actually at about the same level of quality as the Black Cats from England’s North East. Prior to Thursday night’s fixture, Midtjylland were ranked 136^th by this pan-European ranking with Sunderland 132^nd . The difference in opinion therefore lies in people’s perspective with the quality of smaller clubs like Midtjylland being underestimated by media and fans alike because of their lack of knowledge of the team or the league in which they play.

REVIEW: English exodus in Europe greatest in 22 years

FOOTBALL –  Everton’s elimination by Dynamo Kyiv means that thee are no English teams left in Europe this season.  For the first time in 22 years, there will not be a single English club in the quarterfinals of the various European cup competitions. Ever since 1992/93, England have always sent at least one representative to the last eight in Europe. The seven English sides that embarked on their European adventure this season were Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Hull City.

ANALYSE THIS: Is Experience a Denominator for Success?

FOOTBALL – How important is experience for a team’s success? Do teams with more experienced players perform better in the league or do they benefit more from fresh, new players? While ‘experience’ is a difficult concept to actually capture in numbers, we came up with a simple way of trying to compare experience with success, taking the 2014/15 Premier League as an example.

REVIEW: Kane scores in six successive away matches

FOOTBALL – Harry Kane scored two goals to hand Tottenham a 2-1 away win against Queens Park Rangers. Kane has now scored in six consecutive PL away matches, the second best run in the PL era. Check our stat here.

ANALYSE THIS: Sixty-two days, seventeen matches

FOOTBALL – 61 days ago – today is day 62 – Tottenham Hotspur lined up in Turkey to play their final Europa League group match against Besiktas which they went on to lose 1-0. Two days earlier, Liverpool drew 1-1 with FC Basel in what was their final Champions League match of the season. This evening, the two clubs play each other and for both, it will be their 17^th match of the last nine weeks, the most played by any European club over that period.

FA Cup shocks top of Premier League

FOOTBALL – On Saturday, 24 January, five teams from the top half of the Premier League table lost their FA Cup tie, of which four played at home of which three were leading.

Euro Club Index: Chelsea would win title in 2 seasons out of every 3 from here

With 17 matches remaining in this season’s Premier League, the race to the title currently involves just two teams, one of which has around twice the chance of the other of ending the season as 2014/2015 Premier League champions. Five more clubs have a realistic chance of a top-4 spot whilst eight teams are currently involved in the relegation battle. This leaves just five – West Ham, Swansea City, Stoke City, Newcastle United and Everton – without much left to play for.

THE WAVE: Tottenham Hotspur – Chelsea

FOOTBALL – Tottenham Hotspur came roaring back from an early deficit to deal Chelsea their first defeat in a London Derby this season. Chelsea mounted a furious comeback in the second half, but the hosts circled the wagons before their five-goal effort could go to waste.

Europa League seedings do not separate best and worst

Due to basing the seedings for the Europa League draws on six matches within uneven groupings which were created by the UEFA coefficient systems, the seedings for today’s Europa League draw do not actually separate the best and worst remaining teams into two separate groups. Using a longer term rating system, the Euro Club Index, reveals that the seeded and unseeded groups both contain some of the best teams left in the competition and the absolute best trio left in the competition are all unseeded.

ANALYSE THIS: Euro Club Index – No Premier League team in top-5

FOOTBALL – Italian champions Juventus have climbed to fifth place, their best position in the Euro Club Index since its inception, after wins against Malmö and AC Milan over the last week. However, the big news is that there is no Premier League club in the top-5 for the first time since the Euro Club Index began in 2007. During much of the first couple of years of the Euro Club Index’s existence, there were four clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United – in the top-5 but that number gradually declined from November 2009 onwards, the last time that a quartet of Premier League clubs occupied four of the top five places.