Liverpool are the cleanest team in Europe as well as the Premier League's runaway leaders
Liverpool are not only the runaway Premier League leaders, but new data shows they are also the cleanest team in Europe so far this season.
Liverpool are 16 points clear of second-placed Manchester City in the Premier League table with a game in hand after their 2-0 win over bitter rivals Manchester United on Sunday and well on course for a first top-flight title since 1990.
Jurgen Klopp's Reds have committed just 8.1 fouls per game to date in 2019-20, the lowest number of any club out of 35 European domestic leagues which were included in a survey by the CIES Football Observatory.
The Premier League featured the least fouls per match (20.4) of any of the 35 competitions surveyed and eight of the top 18 places in the fair play table were held by English clubs, with Newcastle, Bournemouth, Leicester, Chelsea, Norwich, Tottenham and City being the others.
Danish club Silkeborg were second to Liverpool, while Hamburg were third.
The Danish Super League featured the second-lowest number of fouls per match (21) with the Dutch Eredivisie third on 21.6.
The average number of fouls per match across the leagues was 27.2.
However, they are second in the Fair Play table for Premier League clubs on the FA's website, with 23 yellow cards and one red card in their 22 games so far, giving them 102 disciplinary points. 'Table toppers' Leicester have received 22 yellows with no reds, giving them 88 points.
Interestingly, Southampton are deemed the 'dirtiest' Premier League team based on fouls committed per game but rank highly as one of the fairest in terms of yellow and red cards received. Scroll down for the full table.
European Fouls chart: Top 10 cleanest clubs
- Liverpool: 8.14 fouls per game
- Silkeborg: 8.89
- Hamburg: 8.94
- Honka: 9.10
- Newcastle: 9.14
- Bournemouth: 9.23
- PSV: 9.28
- Bayern Munich: 9.47
- Freiburg: 9.47
- Celtic: 9.50
Other 'leading' EPL sides
12. Leicester: 9.59
13. Chelsea: 9.64
14. Norwich: 9.68
15. Spurs: 9.73
18. Man City: 9.95
29. Brighton: 10.23
37. Sheffield United: 10.50
European Fouls chart: Who are the 'dirtiest' 10 English clubs
- Southampton: 12.09 fouls per game
- Everton: 11.86
- Watford: 11.59
- Burnley: 11.32
- Manchester United: 11.18
- Arsenal: 11
- Wolves: 10.73
- West Ham: 10.71
- Crystal Palace: 10.68
- Aston Villa: 10.55
Premier League Fair Play Table
- Leicester: 22 yellows, one red, 88 points
- Liverpool: 23, 1, 102
- Crystal Palace: 36, 1, 156
- Southampton: 34, 2, 158
- Brighton: 34, 2, 158
- Chelsea: 41, 0, 164
- Burnley: 41, 0, 164
- Wolves: 36, 2, 164
- Newcastle: 36, 2, 168
- Aston Villa: 41, 1, 174
- Manchester United: 44, 0, 176
- West Ham: 42, 1, 178
- Sheffield United: 43, 1, 184
- Manchester City: 41, 2, 184
- Everton: 41, 2, 184
- Bournemouth: 46, 2, 204
- Watford: 50, 3, 230
- Spurs: 52, 3, 230
- Arsenal: 56, 2, 246
European champions @LFC lead the table for least fouls per match out of 3⃣5⃣ leagues 👍 Data as per @InStatFootball for all clubs available in last @CIES_Football Weekly Post ➡️https://t.co/BTfdIa4LMD pic.twitter.com/m0DrYWasYy
— CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) January 20, 2020
Who committed the most/least fouls per game in the five major European leagues? @InStatFootball data for clubs from 3⃣5⃣ competitions in last @CIES_Football Weekly Post ➡️ https://t.co/BTfdIa4LMD pic.twitter.com/6ONrcE3SQG
— CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) January 20, 2020
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