Be careful when visiting these 10 Premier League stadiums
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Throughout the 2022/23 football season, a total of 2,264 football-related arrests were made in the UK. With this marking the highest figure for the past nine years, are some stadiums more dangerous for the public than others?
With the 2023-2024 Premier League season currently ongoing, experts at Live Football Tickets analysed the number of average annual spectators for each stadium and weighted it against the number of crime incidents* to reveal which Premier League stadiums are actually the most dangerous.
Top 10 most dangerous Premier League stadiums
| Rank | Stadium | Club | Average Annual Spectators | Crime Events (2021 – 2023) | Mean Estimated Crime Events per 100 Spectators per Season |
| 1 | Kenilworth Road | Luton Town | 154,432 | 10,050 | 3.07 |
| 2 | St James’ Park | Newcastle United | 899,615 | 31,535 | 1.75 |
| 3 | Seward Stadium | Bournemouth | 148,179 | 5,434 | 1.71 |
| 4 | Turf Moor | Burnley | 322,038 | 11,400 | 1.66 |
| 5 | Bramall Lane | Sheffield United | 365,069 | 13,965 | 1.54 |
| 6 | Molineux | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 508,677 | 15,507 | 1.52 |
| 7 | Stamford Bridge | Chelsea | 642,977 | 16,507 | 1.28 |
| 8 | Griffin Park | Brentford | 277,917 | 6,720 | 1.21 |
| 9 | Selhurst Park | Crystal Palace | 395,093 | 9,439 | 1.19 |
| 10 | Emirates Stadium | Arsenal | 1,020,893 | 19,911 | 0.98 |
Please find the complete dataset of all 20 Premier League stadiums, along with crime types data, analysed in this folder.
Kenilworth Road is revealed to be the most dangerous Premier League stadium, with an average of 3.07 crimes per 100 spectators. The stadium is the home ground for Luton Town and houses 154,432 visitors on average per year. Between 2021 – 2023 there were 10,050 recorded crimes on its grounds – the most common crime being violence and sexual offences (3,393).
In second place, having an average of 1.75 crimes per 100 spectators, is St James’ Park stadium. During the 2021 – 2023 time frame, a whopping 31,535 crime incidents (21,485 more compared to Kenilworth Road) occurred there. As with Kenilworth Road, the most common crimes were violence and sexual offences (9,452), followed closely by anti-social behaviour crimes (8,093), suggesting a significant personal safety concern.
Following very closely behind, in third place is Seward Stadium, where an average of 1.71 crimes per 100 spectators occur. Bournemouth’s home stadium generally receives 148,179 visitors every year (751,436 less than St James’ Park). In the time period between 2021 – 2023, 5,434 crime events happened in the stadium, out of which 1,736 crimes were related to violence and sexual offences.
With an average of 1.66 crimes per 100 spectators, Turf Moor places fourth in the study. From 2021 to 2023 a total of 11,400 crimes were recorded on Burnley’s home ground. Unlike the previous three stadiums, the most common crimes on this Premier League stadium were associated with anti-social behaviour (3,545), which can indicate a prevalent issue with crowd management.
Rounding off the top five, with an average of 1.54 crimes per 100 spectators, is Bramall Lane. A total of 13,965 crimes occurred on the stadium’s premises in the period between 2021 through 2023. Similarly to three other stadiums in the top five, the most common crimes were those of violence and sexual offences, amounting to 4,110, which calls for the need for enhanced security measures and monitoring.
Top five safest Premier League stadiums
| Rank | Stadium | Club | Average Annual Spectators | Crime Events (2021 – 2023) | Mean Estimated Crime Events per 100 Spectators per Season |
| 1= | Old Trafford | Manchester United | 1,249,353 | 4 | 0.00 |
| 1= | Etihad Stadium | Manchester City | 831,099 | 7 | 0.00 |
| 3 | Amex Stadium | Brighton and Hove Albion | 521,354 | 564 | 0.05 |
| 4 | The City Ground | Nottingham Forest | 453,378 | 4,971 | 0.52 |
| 5 | Craven Cottage | Fulham | 383,511 | 4,566 | 0.59 |
First place for the safest Premier League stadium is a shared one between Old Trafford and Etihad Stadium, both achieving an average of 0 crimes per 100 spectators. Manchester United’s home has the highest number of average annual visitors (1,249,353) out of all Premier League stadiums and the lowest amount of crimes (only four) between the years 2021 – 2023. Interestingly, both of the safest Premier League stadiums are in Manchester, which speaks well for the security measures in the city’s stadiums.
