By Paul Nicholson
December 10 – Christmas is coming early for the Premier League clubs in terms of attendances. With more than 400,000 tickets available for the last weekend of Premier League fixtures, just 14,190 seats were left unfilled.
Five clubs had over 99% capacity attendance – Swansea, Chelsea, Stoke City, Man Utd and Arsenal. Together they have a total capacity of 225,378. Just 1,162 seats were unfulled across those matches – most dues to seat kills for media or safety concerns.
Also notable was the resurgence in attendances at Newcastle United’s St James Park. Having struggled with home gates below 90% of capacity the Toon Army have rallied behind their team with gats at over 95% of capacity.
Everton, West Brom and Southampton accounted for more than 10,000 of the unfilled 14,190 seats in round 15.
Everton generally fill over 90% of Goodison Park. West Brom and Saints have also done better in previous weeks, though generally the attendances are on a par with the season to date.
Watford’s success in the league has pushed their attendance capacity up the table as well, with club well into the 90%+ bracket and improving with every home game.
The league’s worst performers in terms of capacity percentage filled – Aston Villa and Sunderland – both played away from home last weekend. Villa, who are bottom of the league, managed a point at Saints and will be hoping that might excite more fans for their home game this Sunday. They face an exciting and buoyant Arsenal fresh from Champions League glory and who can be expected to bring a substantial travelling support.
The Insideworldfootball stats are taken from the club’s reported attendance figure. They do not take account of tickets that might have been sold but the ticket holder did not turn up. Also, for some games stadiums will have slightly reduced capacities due to media and safety requirements.
Round 15 Premier League stadium attendances
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