5 lessons from Ghana Premier League week five
The Ghana Premier League has been back for two weeks now and things are moving quite fast as the gap between the top two and the bottom three is well over three points. Some teams have maintained the momentum to climb while others continue to falter week-in-week-out. We take a look at the five key things we learnt this week.
Aduana is ready
Aduana Stars took hold of the top spot in the first two weeks and have maintained it since. The Ogya Boys are not so generous in front of goal but they do know how to be mean in sharing points such that they have successfully denied four teams any points from matches against them. They are not the meanest in defence though they have conceded just four this term so far, that is still very high and ranks them joint third behind Great Olympics (1), Legon Cities, Dreams FC, Bechem United and Kotoku Royals, all on three. However, they have kept three clean sheets winning in each of those matches by a lone goal. They conceded four goals in games against King Faisal (2-3) and Samartex (2-2) which could point out that they may be threatened by the minnows, not the big guns. Aside from that, it is OGYA.
Matic continues honeymoon
Accra Hearts of Oak needed just three matches to fire their double-winning coach Samuel Boadu and their subsequent exit from the CAF Confederation turned fans’ anger against the management. However, the Serbian has taken to life in the Ghana Premier League and has won two games on the bounce. Before his arrival, the club had just two points from two draws and defeat in three matches. They still continue to score single goals or two just as before but it is at least a good thing they get the points and fans must be thinking things are about to get better. Yeah, things are really better now for the Phobians. Hopefully, they can maintain it.
Kotoko show resilience.
If we talk of a team showing traditional spirit, Kotoko just proved that they have it. The defending champions are still trailing Accra Lions and Aduana Stars after the howler against Bechem United in midweek but they showed against Samartex that they have what it takes to fight back in every situation. The Porcupine Warriors fell behind in the game against Samartex but fought back to secure the maximum points in front of their home fans. With a little bit of consistency, they could be in a good position to defend their title though that is still a long way to go.
King Faisal could be on their way out
King Faisal has continued to slump and is the only team yet to record a win or even draw in the league. They have failed to in three of the matches this season and have scored just three while conceding 11. All hope is not yet lost considering their performances but as the weeks pass by, time is running out for the Inshallah Boys to steady their ship or say an early goodbye to top-flight football next season.
Goals are scarce
The season has seen most of the matches ending in one-goal wins. According to data from Footystats, the most frequent scoreline at full-time is 1-0 and 0-1 with the two accumulating 46.5% of match results this season after five rounds of matches. The third-highest scoreline is a 1-1 draw which has occurred five times so far this season. So far only three matches have recorded four or more goals with seven matches recording exactly three goals. The average number of goals per match is 1.7. Surely, there is hope for improvement as the teams settle until then, enjoy the one-goal projects.
