West Ham are the big winners of playing in front of no fans - while Liverpool, Sheffield United, Newcastle and Brighton are all much worse in empty grounds
(Image credit: Getty)
Home advantage means something: there's a reason that away goals count double in European ties. The 12th man can will you over the line sometimes - right?
Well according to statistics, yes. Since crowds have been absent from Premier League grounds, the chances of a home team losing has risen by 4% - that home advantage naturally slipping when you don't have the roar of the fans behind your team.
When it comes to individual clubs in the top flight, however, there are some fascinating figures. Title-holders Liverpool are among the biggest losers of not having their fans in grounds, having dropped 20% more points without a full crowd.
We took the home form table from the start of August 2019, for all 17 clubs who have been in the league that long - that immediately discounts Leeds United, West Bromwich Albion and Fulham. Form is always in flux, naturally - but we wanted to compare how each club did pre-lockdown and post-lockdown.
For the purposes of this, we counted the games that allowed 2,000 fans into grounds as being empty, rather than full – the peculiar circumstances meant that they were far removed from . What we found was very interesting indeed.
Given that Arsenal and Manchester City have reputations for playing at the quietest grounds in the country, you may find it amusing to know that both clubs have seen less than 1% difference since they lost their fans. Things have basically not changed for either team.
West Ham United are astonishingly 33% better in an empty London Stadium, while Southampton have improved by 23% at St Mary's since lockdown. Chelsea's home form is 15% better since June 2020 than it was from August 2019 to June 2020, while Tottenham Hotspur's and Aston Villa's is almost 5% better.
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Liverpool's bad recent form means that they're 21% worse at Anfield since lockdown, the same amount as Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex - though Brighton have only won once at home without a crowd, while Liverpool had a 100% home record from August 2019 to June 2020.
Strugglers Sheffield United (22%) and Newcastle United (23%) have seen the worst drop-offs in home form without their fans behind them. The full table is below.
(Image credit: Future)
How much the crowd actually relates to the performance is dubious, however. Liverpool's poor form in 2020/21 has come at home and away, for example, and is only 21% worse in comparison to the blistering start they made to their title-winning season. Some teams have changed manager and therefore direction. Others have had transformational signings in that time.
Nevertheless, these figures do support a number of common theories about Premier League fanbases. West Ham are thought to have a hostile home atmosphere towards their own team, Arsenal and City are thought to have little atmosphere at all and the Kop is often referred to as a key ingredient to Liverpool's success.
Perhaps Jurgen Klopp needs put cardboard cutouts out on the Anfield seats to get his team firing again.
Mark White has been at on FourFourTwo since joining in January 2020, first as a staff writer before becoming content editor in 2023. An encyclopedia of football shirts and boots knowledge – both past and present – Mark has also represented FFT at both FA Cup and League Cup finals (though didn't receive a winners' medal on either occasion) and has written pieces for the mag ranging on subjects from Bobby Robson's season at Barcelona to Robinho's career. He has written cover features for the mag on Mikel Arteta and Martin Odegaard, and is assisted by his cat, Rosie, who has interned for the brand since lockdown.
