Is it better to face a rival for league position in a six pointer, to deny opponents points? If you’re at the top end is it better to find a team at the wrong end who are perceived as weaker? Or is it better to face a mid-table side with nothing to play for?
Everyone will have their own theory and it’s never going to be an easy one to workout.
But analysists– working on behalf of OLBG – have crunched the data in an attempt to work out who has the best and worst ends to the League One season, based on the first ten games of the season.
OLBG used the current ratings of each team based on their performances and results over the last season and added a modifier to assess home advantage based on the records of each side, home and away.
This created a scoring system that assigned a value to each club’s opening and final 10 fixtures of the season with a final score produced from the average across these games scored out of 100.
Here are their findings. (Teams ranked from easiest to hardest start)
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