Why clubs at the bottom are most dangerous

It was perhaps no surprise that AFC Bournemouth stunned in-form Liverpool 1-0 to open Matchweek 27. 

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Liverpool travelled south on the back of a 7-0 win over Manchester United and an unbeaten run of six Premier League matches. 

But the problem was that Jurgen Klopp's men were up against the league’s bottom side and that they had beaten them 9-0 in the reverse fixture this season. 

It seems that both are unlikely factors in helping teams to create upsets.

Stats show that when teams drop to the bottom of the table, it reinvigorates them. When Liverpool arrived on the south coast, the side starting the day in 20th position had averaged 1.4 points per match this season.

This was better than those teams who started in sixth and seventh, who averaged 1.33 and 1.21 points respectively.

That bottom-club average now stands at 1.46 points after the Cherries' win. 

From despair to joy

It is also the second time in a row that a team have lost 9-0 in the Premier League and gone on to avenge that result against the same opponents later in the season.

In 2019/20, Southampton were beaten 9-0 at home by Leicester City, but less than three months later Saints went to King Power Stadium and won 2-1.

Overall, on three of the four occasions where a team have been beaten 9-0, they triumphed in the other meeting with their opponents that season. In 1994/95 Ipswich Town won 3-2 at Portman Road before then conceding nine at Manchester United.

Only on one occasion have a team lost both fixtures in the same season when suffering a 9-0 loss. That was in 2020/21, when Southampton went down 3-2 to Man Utd in the first fixture.

Reverse fixtures to 9-0 defeats