The importance of home ground

Looking at this weekend’s results a score stood out for me. Its not the fact that Liverpool or Chelsea were beaten or the fact that Manchester United went to the top of the league. It was Stokes 2-1 victory over West Ham at the Britannia Stadium.

Fortress Britannia

It wasn’t even the fact that Stoke beat West Ham. The result just illustrated how important home games are to clubs like Stoke. Since their promotion to the English top flight the Britannia Stadium has become a fortress that even the top teams hate to visit.

Their fans have provided such a intimidating atmosphere at the ground that opponents find it hard to cope. Stoke are with respect not the greatest team in the league but somehow at the Britannia they are suddenly helped by their twelfth man. And when I say their twelfth man I don’t mean in a ‘Manchester United need a winner so the referee adds on seven minutes’ kind of way either.

Turfing up

Burnley a similar sort of club to Stoke in stature have an amazing home record at Turf Moor. This season they have already defeated champions Manchester United and Everton at home this season and their home form could be just enough to keep them in the top flight.

I remember Burnley defender Clarke Carlisle giving an interview saying that opponents don’t like to visit Burnley because the dressing rooms aren’t quite as comfortable as bigger Premier League grounds. Maybe that is a good psychological edge before they have even taken to the pitch. However Clarke did reveal that the home dressing rooms aren’t much nicer than the visitors.

A fantastic atmosphere

There are certain games that seem to produce fantastic atmospheres. The likes of big European nights at Anfield (I’m not a Liverpool fan) and of course derby matches all over the world. However even in these games its always easier for the home side as they have almost all the support of the fans in the stands. Take today’s game at Ewood Park between Blackburn and Burnley. Burnley would be favourites if the game was at Turf Moor but because it was at Ewood Park it was Rovers who were the favourites and who won the game.

Partisan fans

In European football there is famous examples of this with the likes of Galatasaray notoriously hard places to go due to the partisan fans and the image that they portray. I remember Chelsea played a game at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium and the fans and players were greeted at the airport with signs like welcome to hell and other derogatory remarks.

The Burnley and Stoke fans don’t quite go that far but they do give their all for the team and their respective players response with their best efforts. However unfortunately for these two teams they are quite poor away from home, so they will have to heavily rely on their home form to keep them afloat.

Although Stoke have this season shown a bit more resilience away from home and earned a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park in their last outing. Their winning formula might just be transferring to away games as well as home games. However for Burnley the home form will have to do for now.

They have lost on their last five consecutive away trips and their next away game is at Manchester City. Luckily for the Clarets though they have two consecutive home games against Wigan and Hull. Both clubs should have enough to stay up and they owe a lot to those fans who show their undying support every time they play at home.