Rip-off ground tickets lower Premier attendances

Surveys on the English game have consistently shown that paying to watch a Premiership match these days has become a costly affair. Next season, even if clubs in the top flight know that they will pocket huge incomes from TV rights, few have shown signs of lowering ticket prices.

The overall crowd in the 20-club Premiership for the past campaign was 12,032,096 - an average of 31,662. In the previous year, the total was 12,871,643 - a mean of 33,873.

In addition to the high costs, it also depends on who goes down and who comes up. Demoted Watford, Charlton and Sheffield United had an average gate of 25,000 while the promoted trio of Sunderland, Derby and Birmingham showed an average attendance of 27,000 in the Championship.

The top three with the highest average were Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle.

It is a totally different story on the away front as the fans flocked to watch Liverpool, Sheffield United and West Ham - the best supported sides on their travels.

Seven clubs have shown a seasonal increase on their average attendances, most of them near capacity gates. These were: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Fulham, Man. United, Portsmouth and West Ham. Charlton had the same average as the season before.

Doubles

Home and away wins in the Premiership inflicted on the same teams in 2006/07:

Manchester Utd (12): Wigan, Aston Villa, Watford, Tottenham, Charlton Athletic, Fulham, Liverpool, Bolton, Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield United, Everton, Manchester City.

Chelsea (8): Wigan, Blackburn, Charlton, Portsmouth, Manchester City, Sheffield United, Watford, West Ham.

Arsenal (6): Watford, Charlton, Blackburn, Manchester United, Wigan, Reading.

Liverpool (5): Tottenham, Watford, West Ham, Reading, Wigan.

Reading (5): West Ham, Sheffield United, Man. City, Fulham, Bolton.

Tottenham (4): West Ham, Middlesbrough, Charlton, Man. City.

Blackburn (3): Middlesbrough, Wigan, Manchester City.

Bolton (3): Newcastle, Ports-mouth, Watford.

Man. City (3): West Ham, Middlesbrough, Fulham.

West Ham (3): Blackburn, Arsenal, Manchester United.

Wigan (2): Manchester City, Sheffield United.

Aston Villa (1): Blackburn.

Everton (1): Watford.

Fulham (1): Newcastle.

Middlesbrough (1): Charlton.

Newcastle (1): Tottenham.

Portsmouth (1): West Ham.

Sheffield United (1): Watford.

Note: Charlton Athletic and Watford are the only clubs who failed to claim a double. The ones with the most home-and-away losses against the same club read: Watford - seven; Manchester City, West Ham - six.

On the other side of the coin only one team, runners-up Chelsea, ended the campaign without a double against.

Hat-tricks

The hat-tricks achieved in all competitions:

September 27: Drogba for Chelsea (away) vs Levski Sofia 3-1 (Champions League).

October 28: Rooney for Manchester United (away) vs Bolton 4-0.

November 11: Drogba for Chelsea (home) vs Watford 4-0.

January 7: Lampard for Chelsea (home) vs Macclesfield 6-1 (FA Cup).

January 9: Baptista scores four for Arsenal (away) vs Liverpool 6-3 (League Cup).

March 31: Crouch for Liverpool (home) vs Arsenal 4-1.

Note: Where not indicated, trebles were attained in Premiership action.

Penalty kings

Hot shots from the deadly spot in Premiership competition only read:

Barry (Aston Villa) 5
Speed (Bolton) 5
Arteta (Everton) 5
Gilberto (Arsenal) 4
McCarthy (Blackburn) 4
Yakubu (Middlesbrough) 4
Defoe (Tottenham) 4

Players of the Month

August - Ryan Giggs (Manchester United).
September - Andy Johnson (Everton).
October - Paul Scholes (Man. Utd).
November - Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).
December - Ronaldo.
January - Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal).
February - Giggs.
March - Petr Cech (Chelsea).
April - Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham) share prize.

Managers of the Month

August - Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).
September - Steve Coppell (Reading).
October - Ferguson.
November - Coppell.
December - Sam Allardyce (Bolton).
January - Benitez (Liverpool).
February - Ferguson.
March - Jose Mourinho (Chelsea).
April - Martin O'Neill (Aston Villa).

Dismissals

Players sent off for in the 2006/07 Premiership were:

Blackburn (6): Traore, Tugay, Henchoz, Warnock, Bentley, Roberts.

Bolton (4): Davis, Nolan, Diouf, Campo.

Charlton (4): Neill, Todd, Hreidarsson, Sankofa.

Chelsea (4): Ballack, Terry, Obi, Boulahrouz.

Fulham (4): Pearce, Priskin, Helguson, Diop.

Manchester City (4): Corradi twice, Dabo, Barton.

Arsenal (3): Senderos twice, Gilberto.

Reading (3): Sonko, Bikey, Sodje.

Tottenham (3): Ghaly, Zokora, Keane.

Wigan (3): Hall, Valencia, McCulloch.

Everton (2): Kilbane, Hibbert.

Middlesbrough (2): Boateng twice.

Sheffield United (2): Davis, Gillespie.

West Ham United (2): Konchesky, Zamora.

Aston Villa (1): Barry.

Manchester United (1): Scholes.

Newcastle (1): Bramble.

Portsmouth (1): Mendes.

Watford (1): Powell.

Liverpool: none.

Youth Cup

Liverpool retained the silverware, defeating Manchester United 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate - Anfield 1-2 (Lindfield - Threlfall og, Hewson pen), Old Trafford 0-1 (Threlfall).

In the semi-finals, the Reds trounced Newcastle 7-3 on aggregate, while Man. United edged Arsenal 4-3 on two legs.

Kick-off

The coming Premiership season will kick off on August 11.

Champions Manchester United will play FA Cup winners Chelsea at Wembley in the FA Community Shield match on August 5.