December 10 – This week’s capacity tracker shows the Premier League suffering from a slight attendance slump in the build-up to Christmas – a pattern reflected last season as the festive season approaches.
As storm Darragh blew across the UK and wind speeds reached up to 96mph, the Premier League (for the most part) braved the weather to tally a 97.83% capacity across the weekend’s nine fixtures. Whilst better than last week’s dismal 96.9% tally, it still falls shy of the average for the season.
Manchester United impressed again off the pitch, as Old Trafford filled to 99.28% of its capacity for the Red Devils’ match versus Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Despite breaking the 99% figure in the stands, Ruben Amorim’s side stumbled on the pitch by letting Forest take all three points. Since Erik Ten Hag left the club, the attendance at Old Trafford has been impressive, especially considering the size of the stadium, but the on-pitch woes persist.
Also in the 99% club, West Ham’s support is still amongst the most devoted in the Premier League, having not faltered below 99.4% this season. The Hammers repaid their support with a valuable win, which have been hard to come by in the club’s tumultuous opening to the campaign.
Elsewhere, the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park was postponed due to severe weather conditions, meaning that only nine matches were surveyed in this week’s study.
As league leaders Liverpool were left without a fixture, the opportunity was given to Arsenal and Manchester City to earn some valuable points to put some pressure on Arne Slot’s side. Both teams were left frustrated away from home, only closing the gap to Liverpool by one point whilst the reds have a game in hand.
The stats this week represent a boost from the midweek fixtures, which recorded almost 4,000 more empty seats. The overall capacity percentage across the nine games was 97.82% – almost exactly the average across the 15 match weeks so far, which sits just below 98%.
With a generally strong set of figures across the board, it was Fulham’s continued struggles which pulled down the average. The on-pitch action proved to be a success story for the Cottagers, who held in-form Arsenal to a hard-earned point.
A season ticket at Craven Cottage is the most expensive in the Premier League – which earned comment from Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe earlier this week, when justifying his own club’s raising ticket prices, who said: “I don’t think it makes sense for a Manchester United ticket to cost less than a ticket to see Fulham.”
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1734930846labto1734930846ofdlr1734930846owedi1734930846sni@g1734930846niwe.1734930846yrrah1734930846