The two worst teams in England

The averages are scarcely flattering. Preston North End muster less than a point and a goal a game in the Championship. Yet, in encountering a Premier League team for the first time this season, they scored four times and won away from home. But then again, their opponents were Derby.

In a season of four, five and six-goal thrashings, it confounded logic by establishing a new low. Exclude penalty shootouts and Derby have won a solitary game this season yet a 4-1 defeat to a side who may be bound for League One seemed implausible, even by their standards.

Maintain their current, remarkable rate of progress and they would end the season with 12 points and the Premier League's least desirable record. Their American owners imagine a rosy future, but the present is less pleasant and there are two reasons to believe that even an eventual tally of 12 is optimistic.



Because Derby have only managed one from their nine games under Paul Jewell, suggesting they will pick up just two more in the remainder of the season. And four of their current haul of seven have generously been donated by Newcastle United, an indictment of Sam Allardyce's regime and a cause of regret at Pride Park that a third game against the Magpies cannot be scheduled this season.

As history of the worst sort beckons, it prompts the question if Derby are the Premier League's poorest ever side. They will not, unlike Swindon, concede 100 goals but unlike some other disparaged sides such as Barnsley, it appears impossible they will combine relegation with respectability. And a secondary question in the anatomy of a catastrophe is, of course, that of where it all went wrong. Perhaps the most obvious answer is: at Wembley in May, when Stephen Pearson slid in the promotion-clinching goal against West Brom. With the benefit of hindsight, Billy Davies' incessant talk about a three-year plan makes more sense.

But a turning point occurred in their third match, at White Hart Lane. Having acquitted themselves respectably in the opening two, Davies decided to reinstate a second striker - in the form of club record buy Robert Earnshaw - against a smarting Spurs side. A more attacking approach exposed Derby's limitations and left them three goals behind in a quarter of an hour.

The Carling Cup exit to Blackpool the following week further deterred transfer targets and reinforced the impression Derby were doomed. Perhaps the downward momentum had begun even earlier, with a missed chance by Steve Howard at Manchester City, shortly before Michael Johnson scored the decisive goal.

And it is impossible to overlook Davies' summer spending. Having bought so astutely in the Championship, the Scot was criminally wasteful in the higher division. Indeed while Earnshaw, the £3.5million striker without a league goal, ranks as the worst acquisition, others reflected a lack of understanding of the division. Journeymen with a crippling lack of pace, such as Andy Griffin, Andy Todd and Eddie Lewis, were added yet Davies, who varied his tactics intelligently in the Championship, often matched Premier League sides by playing 4-4-2, pitching his players into individual races they were rarely likely to win.

Moreover, there was widespread recognition within football of their players' shortcomings. Derby received enquiries last summer for both Howard and Darren Moore from clubs assuming their valiant service in earning promotion would not delude Davies that they were top-flight players. Moore's admirers were particularly surprised to learn that he was still regarded as a first choice.

Indeed, it is an indication of their overachievement that the captain, Matt Oakley, and last season's top scorer, Howard, have now joined a side in the lower half of the Championship, Leicester City. Yet, though they have come close to procuring three points at Newcastle and one each against Liverpool, Bolton and Wigan, an overhaul in personnel has not brought a commensurate change in results and the nucleus of Derby's squad, with the coveted Giles Barnes probably the only exception, should remain together in the Championship.

And in comparisons of the Premier League's least impressive members, it is instructive. Watford accumulated 28 points last year but must figure on any shortlist of the most ill-suited sides to the highest division, if only for their dire adherence to long-ball tactics. But in Ashley Young, now flourishing at Aston Villa, they contained a talent while, rather more questionably, Hameur Bouazza and Marlon King have been granted a return to the top flight, along with Ben Foster, only on loan anyway.



The feat of the Sunderland side who laboured their way to 19 points in 2003 is all the more noteworthy because they had been an established Premier League team, featuring a core of players - Thomas Sorensen, Michael Gray, Gavin McCann, Claudio Reyna, Kevin Kilbane, Tore Andre Flo and Kevin Phillips - who had excelled in the upper echelons of the division before. Their case lies on the scale of the collective underachievement and the levels of mismanagement involved to falter so badly.

Sunderland's second contender, however, was a team comprised almost entirely of lower-league players. Indeed, some almost appeared to have been recruited for that reason, to avoid disrupting the dressing-room equilibrium. As an eventual total of 15 points in 2005/6 suggests, there was a sheer inevitability to their relegation and only Julio Arca and George McCartney remained in the Premier League. An inability to win at home until April marked them out as the division's worst team to date.

Yet that haul of 15 points, including one against Manchester United, starts to assume a might of its own. Derby's is now an uphill task to ascend to that level, having located a new low below Sunderland's status.

And in the roll call of the rubbish and the pantheon of the poor, Derby may yet achieve another distinction. With six January recruits, three of whom faced Preston, and no discernible improvement, they could complete the season with virtually an entirely different team.

And in the process, theirs might be a season of two halves - each featuring a separate side that is the worst in Premier League history.

Arsenal : Fulham Review

Arsenal kept up the pressure at the top of the Premier League with an excellent 3-0 win at Fulham on Saturday.

Arsène Wenger’s side had slipped to second place last week after a disappointing draw with Birmingham at Emirates Stadium. However there were no slip-ups this afternoon. Emmanuel Adebayor gave the visitors a stranglehold with a pair superb first-half headers — his 14th and 15th goals of the season.

Fulham rallied briefly in the second period but nine minutes from time Tomas Rosicky slid in a fine volley at the far post.

The scoreline did not flatter Arsenal however this was more of a measured than memorable performance.

For much of the afternoon it appeared this could be a significant day in the title race. In the end Manchester United and Chelsea both got late winners. But, after the sluggishness of last week, this was Arsenal at their efficient best.

All they could do was win themselves and they did that with something to spare.

Wenger made just one change from the side held to a 1-1 draw by Birmingham City last Saturday. Rosicky had fallen ill on the morning of that game, his replacement that day, Theo Walcott, made way this afternoon.

It meant the Arsenal manager named the strongest line-up he had available. It was no surprise because, for only the second week since mid-September, Arsenal were playing catch-up in the table.

Fulham had been showing signs of regeneration under Roy Hodgson. However they came into this game with only struggling Derby below them in the table. Neither of their two new signings — Marlon King and Brede Hangeland - were eligible today.

The opening was typical of a London derby. But the pace was so fast that perhaps it affected the quality.

Fulham gave as good as they got in the opening quarter. Danny Murphy’s clever ball sent Seol Ki-Hyeon clear for a split-second but there was danger at the other end when Adebayor’s clipped cross into the area nearly found the head of Eduardo.

However gradually Arsenal started to put their passing together. One flowing move in the 16th minute ended with Fabregas blazing wide. The final execution was poor but the build-up had been encouraging. So it was no a huge surprise to see Arsenal take the lead three minutes later.

Rosicky sent Clichy scuttling to the byline and his high, hanging cross was nodded home powerfully by the leaping Adebayor on the edge of the six-yard box. It was the Togolese striker’s 14th of the season.

The goal tipped the game in Arsenal’s favour. Suddenly Fulham looked inhibited and Arsenal looked imperious. Still, chances were at a premium and the visitors came closest to extending their lead when Adebayor sidefooted wide in the 27th minute.

The 24-year-old was proving simply too big, too strong and too mobile for the home side. His second goal followed seven minutes from the break. Hleb’s inviting cross saw Adebayor breeze in and guide a similar header into the same corner of the net.

Again it was a goal conceded far too easily by Fulham but the real driver behind the strike had been Arsenal’s willingness to fight to regain a lost ball on the right flank.

With a two-goal advantage, the visitors were now prepared to hit cruise-control. The vociferous travelling support even start some early olès. However Fulham finally produced a decent shot across their bows three minutes from the whistle when Simon Davies reached the byline and cut the ball back for Murphy to sidefoot over.

Hodgson attempted to put further impetus into his side at the break by hauling Jimmy Bullard off the bench. The popular midfielder, who is yet to start a game since his horrific knee injury, came on to a huge reception.

However it did nothing to change the tide. Within four minutes of the restart Bacary Sagna nearly touched home a free-kick from Cesc Fabregas. Then Eduardo beat two defenders with some sublime skill on the left-hand byline. Rosicky met his low cross to the near post but his snapshot hit the outside of the post.

Arsenal were unsettled somewhat soon afterwards when Senderos needed treatment after getting a bash on the nose from Clint Dempsey.

Their concentration drifted a little bit and that loosened their grip on the game. Fulham fired another warning midway through the half when Dempsey nodded in at the far post. However the assistant referee had long-since flagged for offside.

Later Antti Niemi also required lengthy treatment after Adebayor caught him in the face following through.

Twelve minutes from time, Fabregas nearly prodded a third goal in the corner but Bullard responded by curling a free-kick well over the bar.

To be honest the visitors had started the game sprinting but, as the minutes ticked away, Arsenal seemed happy to coast over the line.

That said, they did conjure up a lovely third goal nine minutes from the end when Eduardo worked himself into space on the left byline and the flying Rosicky fired in a low volley at the far post.