Ghana Premier League - Statistical Preview Of Week 21 (Part 2)

Writer: Amoah Kofi      

Twitter: @Milikykophy   

Facebook: Miliky-Amoah Kophy

 

Ghana Premier League

 

Here's the continuation of the statistical preview of Week 21 matches of the Ghana Premier League. (Read Week 21) 

Hearts of Oak  vs Hasaacas.

Sekondi based Hasaacas formed in 1931will travel to Accra to lock horns with the continental club-masters, Heartsof Oak on matchday 21. Yussif Basigi's boys have a huge task on their hands as they have to rewrite their scripts again in away matches given they've traveled 1 year,7 months and some days without an away win. This is quite bad for association football and very much unpleasant for their supporters to go more than one year without a win away from home. But one could also argue that, it shows how strong other clubs are at their home grounds and unwilling to drop even a single point. But the fact is, other clubs have won away from home. So why isn't Hasaacas following suit? This remains a question to be answered by them.

Herbert Addo's Hearts of Oak who defeated Kotoko on Wednesday via penalties to lift the President Cup will by all means pull the strings once again against Hasaacas who are struggling to win a match away from home. That will serve as morale booster to defeat the 9th placed Hasaacas and push themselves to 29 points on the league table. Monitoring radio today, tempers looks quite calm on the part of Phobia fans as they termed Kotoko's defeat  'a sweet one' thus, minimising pressure on Herbert Addo. This will somehow give Herbert a sigh of relief as he would get all the maximum concentration to win against Hasaacas.

These two clubs have three meetings between them from 2013 to date. Each club will be seeking their second win as they have won one apiece with Hasaacas scoring 5 and conceding 3 goals. Hasaacas have impressively won 3, lost 1 and drawn 1 of their last five matches whiles Hearts of Oak have won only 1 of their last five matches, losing 1 and drawing 3.

With the league beginning to take shape with 10 matches to go, Hearts will happily make it 6 wins against Hasaacas out of 11 matches played at home drawing 5 and losing 1. Hearts will be without their influential player Owusu Bempah because he received a red card over the weekend against BA United. Foovi Aguidi, Soulama Abdoulai, PaulAcquah, Philip Boampong and others will be standing tall against Fredrick Quayson's side, Hasaacas. A convincing win for Hearts is what is expected on Sunday.


Ashanti Gold  vs Aduana Stars.

All roads will be leading to Obuasi and probably come to a standstill as Ashanti Gold meet Dormaa based Aduana Stars for this crucial encounter. One of the topliners for the weekend,will be tensed, as there have already been some clashes amongst them in time past. Interestingly, AshGold is first on the log with 37 points whiles Aduana stay inconsistently at the second position with 32 points with 5 points separating them. A win for AshGold will further extend it to 7 whiles a loss at Obuasi will reduce it to 2 points.

There has been 9 clashes between them with no one showing superiority over the other. Each club has 3 wins, 3 losses and 3 draws, producing 15 goals. Ashgold scoring 8 whiles Aduana has 7. The Miners have won the highest number of matches in the league so far and have picked 24 points out of a possible 30 at home drawing two of their 10 matches.

Ashgold who won three straight matches in the first round, a feat that is yet to be chalked by any club in the league as at now, will possibly like to enjoy a double over Aduana as their last visit to the Obuasi Len clay park ended in 2-0 defeat. To my utter dismay, the last 8 matches Aduana have played as guests in the league have all ended in defeats. They have won only 1 and drawn 1 of their last away 10 matches.

Pundits and analysts who have come out with series of permutations and outcomes say, the league is AshGold's to lose. The coming fixtures will determine if they (Ashgold) will be able to lift their first league trophy in 20 years now after winning it in 1995.

The game will be very difficult for both sides. Fans in and around Obuasi are expected to troop to the Len Clay Park to witness this encounter. Aduana who are stubborn so-to-say and proven a hard nut to crack in matches like this will give Ashanti Gold a big run for their money but a victory for the Miners is quite assured.


WAFA  vs Heart of Lions.

WAFA have this season played one of  the beautiful football in the league so far. This kind of performances has eluded the league for far too long.  No wonder they were 2nd on the league log after the first round.

WAFA await struggling Heart of Lions at the Sogakope Park in a regional derby. Lions who are currently 14th on the league table with 25 points will see no danger looming as there are 10 matches to go with only 5 points separating them and the 5th placed team, WAFA. Yussif Aboubakar's Lions will have to go all out at  least to secure a point as they drew goalless in the first round. And then again, banned one game at home and fined one thousand Ghana cedis by the FA for failing to control crowd violence in their match against Bechem United. Their next home match will be played away from home, their favourable grounds. In this case they need to apply the brakes on John Killa's WAFA who have displayed an eye-catchy football on the pitch.

Likewise, both clubs have won only 1of their last five matches, drawing 2 and losing 2. In 10 matches for Lions, they have won 1 and drawn 2 losing the rest 7. WAFA, impressively have not conceded not  more than a goal at home per game, losing 1, drawing 2 and winning the rest of their matches played at home (7).

Zakaria Mumuni and Martin Antwi who have combined to score 7 goals each for WAFA this season as against Osman Muntaka who has 4 goals for Lions will be lacing up their scoring boots in wait for Lions to treat their fans to some entertaining football and win as well.


Berekum Chelsea  vs New Edubiase.

Former league champions, Berekum Chelsea (then Glo Premier League Champion in 10/11) will be back at their favorite home grounds, the Golden City Park after drawing 1-1 with Heart of Lions last week. Chelsea play struggling New Edubiase this weekend. Fuseini Nuhu who has 9 goals for Lions seems to be carrying the team on his shoulders alone whiles other teammates aren't pulling their weights together apparently.

These two clubs have 9 encounters between them with Chelsea winning 4, drawing 2 and losing 3. 16 goals have been produced in their encounters with Chelsea scoring 9 and allowing in 7 goals.

One question that remains to be answered by the New Edubiase defence is how they will be able to contain Stephen Baffour and Kofi Owusu who have 9 and 8 goals respectively as the best attackers in the league. Impressively, Brekum Chelsea have won 9 matches at home, drawing only 1 (against Kotoko) as against Edubiase who have won 2 matches away losing 8.

According to Isaac Amponsah popularly known as Dr. Ike, Director of Communication for Berekum Chelsea, their meeting with Edubiase on Sunday will be their 200th game since joining the Ghana Premier League in 2008. Since then they have played 199 matches so far. Won 85 matches (42.7%), drawn 55 (27.6%) and lost 59 (29.6%). Interestingly they have scored 199 goals as against 199 matches played. Averagely, 1 goal per match and conceded 165. They have amassed 310 points out of 597 representing 51.9%. In all their matches, they have met 27 opponents and their best finish in the league was winning the then Glo Premier League in 2010/2011. Their worst finish was 12th in 2013/2014 league season and are currently 4th with 30 points. Their highest points chalked is 57 in 2010/11 and worst is 40 in 2013/14 league season. And in addition, they are unbeaten at home in more than a year now.

These stats look scary and very unpleasant for Edubiase who could have chosen any other day to meet them than their 200th game on Sunday. I'm afraid but Chelsea look set to win their 86th match in all. 

 

Football is full of uncertainties but any points dropped by Brekum Chelsea will be extremely surprising.