Away Clean Sheet Masters

All teams tend to perform worse when they are away, compared to when they are playing on home turf. But the degree with which they do so varies from team to team. Although defenders must always be drafted into your Fantasy teams based on overall clean sheet potential and difficulty of upcoming fixtures, figuring out which teams are more likely to keep clean sheets away from home may occasionally come in handy. Consider a hypothetical situation where you need to bench either a Stoke defender, such as Ryan Shawcross, or a Southampton defender, such as Nathaniel Clyne, in a Gameweek where both have tricky away fixtures. Being aware of which team is more solid away from home may help you gather those precious extra points.

This analysis is mainly based on the data of the past three seasons. The small number of seasons taken into consideration leads to high variance for some teams as they may overperform or underperform in a given season. However, considering data beyond the past three seasons would also cause complications due to the accumulating changes in squads, management and other factors, which might have affected the results of previous seasons but do not apply anymore. Additionally, the performances of the latest completed season are a more accurate indicator than any of the earlier seasons.

The Stats

Table: The percentage of clean sheets that were kept at home for the past three seasons, alongside the total number of clean sheets accumulated over the seasons.

Team                            2011/12   2012/13   2013/14   Total Clean Sheets

Arsenal                            62%            36%           65%                 44
Aston Villa                     44%            80%           44%                 23
Chelsea                            50%            57%           56%                 42
Everton                           58%            64%           54%                 38
Fulham                            45%            50%           80%                 24
Liverpool                       42%            69%           60%                 38
Manchester City          65%            56%           63%                 51
Manchester United     55%            54%           46%                 46
Newcastle                       60%            67%           60%                31
Southampton                   –                43%           47%                22
Stoke                                 67%           58%           78%                30
Sunderland                     67%            64%          55%                34
Swansea                            64%            50%          75%                32
Tottenham                      64%            56%          57%                37
West Brom                      80%            63%          57%                25

What the Stats Tell Us

Aston Villa, Fulham and West Brom have recorded a measly number of clean sheets over the last three seasons and their defenders are rightly not considered to be valuable Fantasy assets. Perhaps their small number of clean sheets are what lead to such erratic percentages with no clear trends.

Newcastle, Swansea and Sunderland seem to have a strong inclination towards performing poorly defensively away, although Sunderland did manage to bring 45% of their cleansheets away from home last season thanks to the heroics of Vito Mannone. With the Italian retaining his starting berth in goal, this season could be a similar story. Stoke show a stark difference in their home and away records, relying heavily on their home games to get their clean sheets, so although any other team may flounder on a wet, windy Tuesday night at Stoke, be wary of drafting a Stoke defender into your starting XI with a raft of away fixtures on the horizon.

Arsenal had an awkward season in 2011/12 as almost two thirds of their clean sheets came away from home. They mustered a mere five shut-outs in 19 home games that season. Otherwise, they have shown a trend of fading away defensively when playing away from home. Although not included in the table, during the 2010/11 season season, nine out of their 13 clean sheets were kept at home, around 69%. Manchester City have managed to keep the highest number of clean sheets over the past three seasons, but they too have stuttered defensively when playing away from home.

Since Brendan Rogers took charge of Liverpool, they have also shown high dependence on home games to accrue clean sheets. On the other hand, ever since Roberto Martinez took charge, Everton have become even more stubborn in defence when playing away from home, with their away clean sheets going up from four in the 2012/13 season to seven in the 2013/14 season. Martinez’ men seem to be a good bet for racking up clean sheets when playing away from home this season.

Tottenham impressed when playing away from home in last season, and with their squad depth, especially in defence, it would not be surprising to see them repeat their decent defensive showing this season too. Chelsea’s solid back-line over the past few seasons has helped them maintain a close to even home/away split of clean sheets, while Man United have also made sure that an almost equal number of clean sheets were kept away from home as at home.

Although it has been only two seasons since their return to the top flight, Southampton have been included because of their remarkable defensive exploits last term, which they ended with a whopping 15 clean sheets. Quite shockingly, over the past two seasons they have kept a higher number of clean sheets when playing away from home. Most Fantasy managers would expect Southampton’s back-line to be heavily depleted after the departure of Dejan Lovren and Luke Shaw, however retaining Jose Fonte, along with the acquisition of Ryan Bertrand, may propel the Saints towards another defensively solid season.

There is neither any guarantee nor any necessity that the trends of the past seasons will continue into the new season. However, it is still better to base your decisions upon recent historical stats than simply on chance. So in the hypothetical situation where you need to bench a Southampton or a Stoke defender in a given Gameweek where both have tricky away fixtures, you know that you should be more confident about opting for the South coast team.