Manchester City nailed down their position as title credentials with an emphatic dismantling of defending champions Liverpool this weekend, with Pep Guardiola’s side extending their winning run to 10 consecutive league wins, sending a clear message to the rest of the division.
The first Manchester-Merseyside clash of the weekend ended in a thriller as Everton snatched a stoppage-time point at Manchester United, whilst Thomas Tuchel’s reign at Chelsea continued with another win at Sheffield United and Tottenham returned to winning ways by beating West Brom.
Elsewhere Mike Dean stole the headlines at Fulham giving a controversial red card to West Ham’s Soucek, whilst Newcastle edged Southampton in an entertaining contest at St James’ Park to move further clear of a bottom three beginning to get cut adrift.
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• Once more, we bring you some of the most interesting stats from the weekend’s actions.
• 17/19 – Crystal Palace have lost 17 of their last 19 Premier League games when Wilfried Zaha hasn’t played, failing to score in 15 of those 17 defeats.
• 3 – Jack Harrison has netted three goals in his last four league games for Leeds, as many as he managed in his previous 24 for the club.
• 1 – Chelsea have only conceded one goal in their first four Premier League games under Thomas Tuchel – their fewest through a manager’s first four league games in charge since Guus Hiddink in February/March 2009.
• 82% – Nine of Jorginho’s 11 Premier League goals have come from the penalty spot (82%) – this is the highest ratio of any player with 10+ goals in the competition’s history.
• 27 – After 23 games this season, Liverpool (40) now have 27 fewer points than they did at the same stage last season (67), the biggest drop by any reigning champion at this stage of a campaign in English top-flight history.
• 10 – Phil Foden has now scored 10 goals across all competitions this season; among those in double figures across Europe’s top five leagues, only Erling Haaland (20y 201d) is younger than Foden (20y 255d).
• 36% – Only Callum Wilson (40%) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (38%) have scored a higher portion of their team’s Premier League goals this season than Spurs duo Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min (13/36 each – 36%).
• 208 – Harry Kane has now scored 208 goals in 317 appearances in all competitions for Tottenham, making him the joint-second highest scorer in the club’s history alongside Bobby Smith (also 208 goals in 317 apps).
• 2 – This was just the second time in Premier League history Manchester United led a home game by 2+ goals at half-time and failed to win, following a 2-2 draw against West Brom in October 2010.
• 21 – Since his Premier League debut, only Mohamed Salah (22) has scored more goals in the competition than Bruno Fernandes (21), with the Portuguese scoring more goals against Everton than any other side in that time (4).
• 14 – Tomáš Souček’s red card was the 14th shown to Czech players in the Premier League, with six of those being shown to West Ham players (also Tomas Repka x3, Ludek Miklosko and Radoslav Kovác).
• 458 – Jóhann Gudmundsson’s strike for Burnley ended a run of 458 minutes without a goal conceded for Brighton in the Premier League, and was his first Premier League goal since August 2019.
• 4 – James Ward-Prowse has scored four direct free-kick goals in the Premier League this season – only David Beckham (5 in 2000-01) and Laurent Robert (5 in 2001-02) have ever scored more in a single campaign in the competition.
• 3 – Newcastle have scored three goals in the first half of a Premier League game for the first time since October 2015 vs Norwich, with that game ending 6-2 to the Magpies.
• 30 – Takumi Minamino has scored just 30 minutes into his Southampton debut, after netting just one goal in 531 minutes for Liverpool in the Premier League.