Football Daily | Manchester United, Aston Villa and the unseriousness of a 4-4 draw

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! Precisely 13,266 games have been played since the inception of the Premier League, and 19 of those matches have finished 4-4 (0. 1%), a rarity in a division dominated by the mighty 1-0 (17. 6%). It was about time we got one, though. The months of August and September, when teams are still fighting to define their top-flight seasons and fitness and motivation tend to be at their peak, have never seen a single 4-4 draw.

As motivation decreases the chances of stupid scorelines increase, and that’s where the 4-4 creeps in. There’s a certain on-the-beachness inherent in the score, and it is no coincidence that it has occurred more in the second half of April, as thoughts drift to the close season and the ineffable pointlessness of a lot of late-campaign football becomes unavoidable, than in the entirety of any other month. Students, teachers and visitors at the University of Queensland can view the world’s longest-running experiment. The flamin’ pitch drop experiment began in 1930 and is designed to demonstrate how an apparent solid…