[EvanJ]

I knew Hull City got worse as the season went on, and I decided to look at Hull City's performance in the first game against each opponent compared to their second game against each opponent. Except for playing Manchester City twice before playing Aston Villa once, Hull City played each opponent once before playing any opponents twice. Here is what I found:

1. If Hull City had gotten as many points from their second meetings with each opponent than first their meetings, they would have finished with 54 points which would have put them seventh. They had 1.42 points per game played in their first meetings but still got outscored by an average of 1.68 to 1.42.

2. Hull City's problem in their second meetings was offense. They allowed 32 goals in their first meetings and in their second meetings, but they scored over twice as many goals in their first meetings than in their second meetings, 27 to 12.

3. Hull City scored at least two goals in a majority of their first meetings, 10 out of 19, including scoring at least two goals in their first meetings with four of the top five clubs in the final table.

4. Chelsea was the only club that finished in the top half of the table to win by more than one goal in their first meeting with Hull City. Hull City surprisingly averaged exactly 1.5 points per game played in their first meetings with top half clubs and exactly 1 1/3 points per game played against the nine bottom half clubs other than themselves. One would expect the second number to be higher.

5. Hull City scored two or more goals in only 1 of their second meetings (compared to 10 times in their first meetings) and the only second meeting Hull City won was over Fulham. Fulham was the only club to lose twice to Hull City.

6. Four clubs won both their games against Hull City. They were Manchester United, Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic, and Sunderland.

7. The clubs Hull City outscored on aggregate were Fulham, Newcastle United, and West Bromwich Albion. Hull City's aggregate was tied with Tottenham and Portsmouth and Hull City got outscored on aggregate by 14 out of 19 opponents. Chelsea, Manchester City, Wigan Athletic, and Sunderland were the clubs that outscored Hull City on aggregate by three or more goals.

8. In terms of goal differential, the only opponents Hull City did better against the second time were Chelsea, Wigan Athletic, Bolton, and Sunderland. They had the same goal differential in both meetings with Manchester United, Aston Villa, and Portsmouth. They did worse the second time against 11 out of 19 opponents.

If anybody wants to see the spreadsheet I made send me a private message with your e-mail address.