"Gerard Pique spoke to his former Spain teammate Iker Casillas on his podcast last February and the topic of goalless draws came up. You might expect a centre-back and goalkeeper to be excited about the art of defending but rather Pique suggested that teams should be punished for participating in goalless draws. It can't be that you go to a football stadium, spend 100, 200 or 300, and the match ends 0-0, said Pique. Something needs to change."
"Thankfully for Premier League teams, Pique's idea has not yet come to fruition. There were two goalless draws in the top flight at the weekend, with Nottingham Forest and Arsenal playing out a fairly dour stalemate on Saturday before Wolves and Newcastle did the same on Sunday. It was Arsenal's second consecutive 0-0 in the league after their home draw against Liverpool."
A proposal suggested that teams be punished for goalless draws, including awarding zero points for 0-0 results and reopening the match from the 70th minute. Two recent matches ended 0-0: Nottingham Forest v Arsenal and Wolves v Newcastle, with Arsenal recording back-to-back 0-0 league games. This season has seen 17 goalless draws so far, exceeding last season's 16 and the previous season's 11. New Year's Day featured three of four matches ending 0-0. The 1998-99 season holds the record with 49 goalless games (12.9% of matches). Since then, only two seasons reached at least 40 goalless draws, and none have since 2008-09.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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