The Premier League weekend in numbers
The Premier League continued to dazzle over the weekend, assaulting the senses from all sides with a combination of goals, controversy, comebacks and cards.
On Saturday, highlights included Liverpool’s 4-0 dismantling of Southampton, Everton’s epic turnaround triumph at Watford and Bournemouth’s basement battle victory against Aston Villa, though eight other clubs had to settle for a share of the spoils in the day’s four draws.
24 hours later, Burnley were a lick of paint away from ousting Arsenal at Turf Moor in the early kick-off, before Tottenham somehow emerged with three points and a clean sheet from their meeting with a frustrated Manchester City outfit to close out the weekend.
Let’s take a look back at the latest round of fixtures in our special feature: The Premier League Weekend in Numbers.
2 - The number of games won by Brighton since the first week of November last year. The Seagulls secured a valuable point in a 3-3 draw with West Ham on Saturday; however, Albion won only twice in their last 15 games in all competitions overall.
4 – The dismal number of Premier League matches won by Chelsea in their last 13 top-flight fixtures. Despite their underwhelming return of just 15 points from the last 39 available, the Blues haven’t looked in danger of losing their grip on fourth spot thanks to the inconsistency of the chasing pack behind them.
6 – The alarmingly low number of Premier League goals scored by Norwich City on the road so far this season. The Canaries drew a blank in their 0-0 draw at Newcastle on Saturday, failing to score for the 8th time in 13 away games in the process.
8 – The number of tackles attempted by Bournemouth’s Philip Billing in the Cherries’ potentially pivotal win over fellow relegation candidates Aston Villa on Saturday. Billing attempted five more tackles than the next best challengers on the south coast, accounting for nearly 40% of his team’s total tackles on the day.
10 - The notably high number of times that Aaron Wan-Bissaka lost possession for Man Utd in the Red Devils’ achingly mundane 0-0 draw at home to Wolves on Saturday evening. The 22-year old’s reputation for being poor on the ball took another battering after his latest display.
13 – New Tottenham signing Steven Bergwijn became the 13th Dutchman to score on his Premier League debut after he broke the deadlock against Man City on Sunday. The winger follows Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, Jurgen Locadia, Georginio Wijnaldum, Chris David, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, Alexander Buttner, Boudewijn Zenden, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Fabian Wilnis, Reggie Blinker, Fabian De Freitas and Bryan Roy into the record books.
16 - The head-rocking number of aerial duels won by veteran centre-half Tim Cahill in Crystal Palace’s clash with Sheffield United on Saturday. The 34-year old won more balls in the air than any other Premier League player at the weekend, though his efforts weren’t enough to stop the Eagles’ eventual defeat.
70 – The percentage of Mikel Arteta’s 10 games in charge of Arsenal where the Gunners scored one or fewer goals. After they escaped Turf Moor with a 0-0 draw with Burnley on Sunday, Arsenal’s goal average per 90 minutes under their new Spanish coach stands at just 1.1.
85 – The huge number of long balls played by Liverpool in their comfortable 4-0 win over Southampton at Anfield on Saturday. The Reds played more long passes than any other Premier League team at the weekend. Only Burnley and Sheffield United have played more long balls per game on average than Jurgen Klopp’s charges (66).
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