The Double Pivot: Soccer analysis, analytics, and commentary

The various rules that the IFAB implemented to speed up play across soccer appear to be working. The ball is in play more, there are shorter delays before restarts from throw-ins and goal kicks, and there are many fewer delays for treatment on the pitch. But that last rule, which disincentivizes treatment by forcing players who receive treatment to stay off the pitch for anot...

The Liverpool-City match threw this problem into relief. Everyone knows some kind of punishment is coming for Manchester City, and probably an enormous one. But what happens to the 2026-27 season that is now being played under the conditions that will be set in part by that punishment? We discuss the institutional features of the Premier League that put it in this predicament...

People expect that Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal, and Kylian Mbappe are the favorites to win the Ballon d'Or. We go into some depth on what that means: how do you win the Ballon d'Or, who votes on it, and what criteria they are encouraged to follow? We discuss what we might wish the Ballon d'Or would be and who our picks would be, and our best breakdown of a semi-coherent thought ...

It is reported that the Premier League's indepedent panel has ruled that Manchester City committed 114 breaches of league rules. The Double Pivot has been covering this story for nearly a decade and we do not plan to stop. We explain under what exact legal auspices this investigation and now verdict were issued, why and how the Premier League came to a point where maximal pun...

We have tables to sort and Caley has a toy model and some thoughts on regression. It is time to talk about City and Arsenal at the top of the table, why they're the best teams in the league but what concerns the early numbers reveal, and then... Brentford and Brighton. Because it does seem like the Premier League midtable starts at third.