FYI.
New figures have revealed that the Premier League's current long-ball merchants are... Reading. Steve Coppell's men resorted to a long pass 22.47 per cent of the time, or almost one in four times they attempted to pass the ball to a team-mate. They are closely followed by Fulham, 21.32 per cent of whose passes were long balls, and Birmingham, on 20.65 per cent. Arsenal make least use of the long pass, despite recently scoring a number of route one goals via balls played up to their Croatian striker Eduardo da Silva. Arsene Wenger's side have used long-ball passes only 10.40 per cent of the time, with Chelsea (12.42 per cent) and Manchester United (13.97 per cent) behind them. Premier League long-pass percentages: Arsenal (10.40) Chelsea (12.42) Manchester United (13.97) Manchester City (15.26) Blackburn (16.28) Tottenham (16.61) Liverpool (16.66) West Ham (17.14) Aston Villa (17.79) Sunderland (17.94) Portsmouth (18.10) Derby (18.18) Everton (18.24) Newcastle (18.50) Wigan (19.34) Bolton (19.39) Middlesbrough (19.64) Birmingham (20.65) Fulham (21.32) Reading (22.47) regards Harry
