Opening day results - what do they mean? Drab stat alert

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Today saw us win our opening game of a league season for the 27th time. We've lost 34 times on the opening day and drawn 35. This is our first opening day victory since Zohore's injury time winner at Burton and only our 3rd in 11 attempts since winning at West Ham. Our last 4 opening day wins have all been 1-0 - something we'd only done 3 times previously in our history. 6 of our last 11 opening day wins have been 1-0 whereas only 1 of the previous 16 had been by the same scoreline.

Does an opening day win mean anything? Well, here's our average finishing position when we've won, drawn and lost the opening game of the season:

Won - 10.0
Drawn - 12.8
Lost - 12.9

A second comparison, looking at top half and bottom half finishes:

Won: Top half - 15, bottom half - 11
Drawn: Top half - 16, bottom half - 19
Lost: Top half - 15, bottom half - 19

A third comparison, looking at promotion and relegation:

Won: Promoted - 7, relegated - 1
Drawn: Promoted - 3, relegated - 6
Lost: Promoted - 3, relegated - 6

Here's a look at some percentages.

Won the opening fixture:

Top half finish - 55.6%
Promotion - 25.9%
Relegation - 3.7%

Drawn the opening fixture:

Top half finish - 45.7%
Promotion - 8.6%
Relegation - 17.1%

Lost the opening fixture:

Top half finish - 44.1%
Promotion - 8.8%
Relegation - 17.6%

[Harry Paget Flashman]

Going up then.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Going up then.

100%. Put your mortgage on it.