Arsenal and Manchester United have shared the award of Barclays Grounds Team of the Year in the Barclays Premier League.
The quality of the pitches at Emirates Stadium and Old Trafford were deemed the best of the 20 in the Premier League by the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI). It is the 21st time the club has been nominated in the 21 years that the award has been run.
Run by the Playing Surfaces Committee in conjunction with the STRI, the awards recognise the importance of the quality of pitches for professional football, encourage all groundstaff to produce high-quality pitches and acknowledge the head groundsmen and their staff who produce the best playing surfaces in each division.
The committee judging the award for the Barclays Premier League declared the two pitches at Emirates Stadium and Old Trafford the joint winners, while there were three highly commended grounds teams: Aston Villa, Southampton, who shared the award with Arsenal last season, and Swansea City.
The scoring system for the Barclays Premier League Grounds Team of the Year is based on marks for specific aspects of pitch and management performance. It is compiled using marks from match officials and match delegates.
There is also a pitch assessment visit by Dr Stephen Baker, head of sports surface technology at the STRI, and an assessment of each club's management of the pitch as well as factoring in other elements such as environmental issues, shade and resources available to the club, as well as how much use a pitch has sustained.
The groundstaff completed the first cut on Monday
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