Domestic advantage Premier league home advantage is clearly showing that it is losing its advantage this season, so whether home advantage still plays the same advantage remains unclear. According to the recent findings, teams are not playing matches in front of their supporters anymore.
Home teams have been performing poorly in the past two weeks and have won only four out of 21 matches. This is only a win rate of 19 percent. Only a few clubs such as Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa were able to get home wins in this season.
Some of the key teams are not performing well home wise. Tottenham Hotspur have not lost much at home since the beginning of this season. This was underlined by their humiliating loss to Arsenal; this showed the lack of defensive problems and overall unstable performance.
There are also domestic issues affecting Chelsea. Instead, they have lost on eight occasions in their 14 home matches. Even the best clubs are finding it hard to win at home as their recent draw with Burnley demonstrated.
The total home win percentage is approximately 42 percent in this season. This is one of the lowest figures in league history. It indicates a long term trend and not a short-term anomaly.
The change may be attributed to modern football. Scheduling of teams is tactical and effective in terms of away games. The conditions of traveling have been improved and the pressure of stadiums is now less significant than it was previously.
Crowd influence has been replaced by tactical discipline as another area of concern among managers. Away team tends to go into the matches with organized defense strategy and fast attacks.
In case of the further development of this trend, the classic concept of the home dominance might lose its value. The new strategies will be required by the clubs to make their stadiums their true beneficiaries once again.
