Premier League stats: Why Swansea might go down & Burnley's unwanted record
- Published
Swansea's worrying landmark of goals conceded, Burnley's progress towards a very unwelcome Premier League record, and a place for Granit Xhaka among the top flight's most punished.
Here, we take a look at some of the most interesting stats from the weekend.
The landmark sending Swansea down
There's certainly been a resurgence since Paul Clement took over as Swansea boss at the turn of the year, but momentum was dampened at Hull on Saturday.
The Welsh club have climbed from bottom of the table to 16th under Clement, but missed the chance to steer further towards safety in a 2-1 defeat by fellow strugglers Hull, who now trail the Swans by just three points.
And that's not the worst of it. Both of Hull's goals were scored by Oumar Niasse, whose second was the 61st Swansea have conceded this season.
No team has ever stayed up after conceding over 60 goals at this stage of a league campaign - 28 games - so there is plenty of work to do for Clement and co. Will they break the curse? Next week's trip to Bournemouth will be crucial.
Season | Club | P | GA | Points | Final position | Relegated |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1993-94 | Swindon Town | 28 | 62 | 22 | 22nd | Yes |
1997-98 | Barnsley | 28 | 63 | 28 | 19th | Yes |
1999-00 | Watford | 28 | 60 | 15 | 20th | Yes |
2009-10 | Burnley | 28 | 60 | 23 | 18th | Yes |
2011-12 | Blackburn Rovers | 28 | 60 | 25 | 19th | Yes |
2013-14 | Fulham | 28 | 62 | 21 | 19th | Yes |
Burnley's wait goes on
When your side goes 1-0 up only to lose after conceding twice from the opposition's three shots on target, Burnley boss Sean Dyche is right to call it "a tough one to take".
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said it was the first time his team had won "playing ugly", and the Clarets' performance at Anfield on Sunday certainly deserved more than a 2-1 defeat.
Instead of luxuriating after finally securing a first away win of the season, Dyche and company were left scratching their heads over what more they can do to win on the road.
With only two points from a possible 42 at opposition grounds this term, Burnley have just five games left to avoid becoming the worst away side in Premier League history.
Derby County, who sacked manager Steve McClaren for a second time in less than two years on Sunday, are the current record-holders with three points away during the 2007-08 season.
Burnley's final five matches away in the league are against Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Everton, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth.
Season | Team | Won | Draw | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016-17 | Burnley | 0 | 2 | 2 |
2007-08 | Derby County | 0 | 3 | 3 |
2016-17 | Leicester City | 0 | 3 | 3 |
2009-10 | Burnley | 1 | 1 | 4 |
1999-00 | Watford | 1 | 2 | 5 |
2016-17 | Hull | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Xhaka and the yellow card club
Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka loves a yellow card, not to mention the two reds he's already seen this season, but where does he rank amongst the Premier League's most committed tough tacklers?
As bad as Robbie Savage? Worse than Lee Cattermole? Could he maybe even reach Gareth Barry levels of ill-discipline?, external
Xhaka's booking in Arsenal's 5-0 victory over Lincoln City in Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final was his eighth in 32 matches in all competitions since joining from Borussia Monchengladbach last summer.
He has three in the Premier League, three in the Champions League, and the one on Saturday was his second in the FA Cup.
Three yellow cards from 20 league games is a promising start towards overhauling the player with the most in Premier League history, Everton midfielder Barry.
The 36-year-old has amassed 116 yellows from 621 appearances in England's top flight, so clearly Xhaka, 24, has a long way to go.
But if he were to carry on collecting at his current rate, he would have 93 yellows from the same number of games.
That would put Switzerland international Xhaka above Savage and Cattermole, but just below Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney - and who knows how many he may yet end up with?
Number of yellow cards in Premier League | |
---|---|
Gareth Barry | 116 |
Kevin Davies | 99 |
Lee Bowyer | 99 |
Paul Scholes | 97 |
Wayne Rooney | 94 |
Scott Parker | 92 |
Robbie Savage | 89 |
Kevin Nolan | 85 |
Lee Cattermole | 85 |
George Boateng | 85 |
Suarez, Milner and the minor earthquake
Barcelona fans caused a 'minor earthquake', external when celebrating their incredible Champions League turnaround at home to Paris St-Germain on Wednesday, but that must feel like a world away after Sunday's 2-1 loss at Deportivo La Coruna.
It was a defeat that should never have happened - because ex-Liverpool striker Luis Suarez scored.
In the previous 72 matches when the Uruguayan has bagged for Barca, they had never lost - winning 67 times and drawing five.
Impressive, yes, but it's no patch on what Ian Rush had going on at Liverpool in the 1980s., external Over seven years and 145 matches, the Reds would not lose when Rushie found the net.
Unfortunately for him and the Reds, the run finally came to an end in the 1987 League Cup final, when Arsenal came back from conceding first to win 2-1.
So who is the leading the way now in the English top flight? It's a third Liverpool man - James Milner.
Starting with his first strike for Leeds on Boxing Day 2002 when he was 16, Milner is on a run of 46 games in which he's scored and his team has not lost - a joint Premier League record he holds with retired ex-England forward Darius Vassell.
King among men
Joshua King became the first Bournemouth player to reach double figures in the top flight as he scored a hat-trick - including a 90th-minute winner - in Saturday's 3-2 victory over West Ham.
That brought him up to 11 for the season, and there should be a few more still to come from the first Norwegian to score a Premier League treble since John Carew for Aston Villa in 2008.
Cherries boss Eddie Howe will certainly be hoping his team will add to their first victory in 2017.
But who has achieved the same feat at the Premier League's other clubs? And which is the one club lagging behind? One player did it in the season he scored a whopping 30 goals...
Arsenal: Ian Wright, 1992-93 (15) | Bournemouth: Joshua King, 2016-17 (11) |
Burnley: Danny Ings, 2014-15 (11) | Chelsea: Mark Stein, 1993-94 (13) |
Crystal Palace: Chris Armstrong, 1992-93 (15) | Everton: Tony Cottee, 1992-93 (12) |
Hull: No player has scored 10 goals in the Premier League | Leicester: Steve Claridge, 1996-97 (11) |
Liverpool: Ian Rush, 1992-93 (14) | Manchester City: David White, 1992-93 (16) |
Manchester United: Mark Hughes, 1992-93 (15) | Middlesbrough: Paul Wilkinson, 1992-93 (13) |
Southampton: Matt Le Tissier, 1992-93 (15) | Stoke: Ricardo Fuller, 2008-09 (11) |
Sunderland: Kevin Phillips, 1999-00 (30) | Swansea: Danny Graham, 2011-12 (12) |
Tottenham: Teddy Sherringham 1992-93 (21) | Watford: Odion Ighalo 2015-16 (15) |
West Brom: Robert Earnshaw 2004-05 (11) | West Ham: Trevor Morley 1993-94 (13) |
Dimi who?
West Ham fans, forget all about Dimitri Payet. He's gone. Michail Antonio is the one you want to keep hold of.
The 26-year-old winger scored his ninth league goal of the season in Saturday's 3-2 defeat by Bournemouth, his 17th since making his Premier League debut in September 2015.
That's more than any other Hammers player over the same period - only the injury-plagued Andy Carroll comes close, with 15 goals.
Next it's Manuel Lanzini with 11 goals, then Payet, level with captain Mark Noble on eight.
West Ham scorers since Antonio's debut | Goals |
---|---|
Michail Antonio | 17 |
Andy Carroll | 15 |
Manuel Lanzini | 11 |
Mark Noble | 8 |
Dimitri Payet | 8 |
Diafra Sakho | 5 |
- Published12 March 2017
- Published11 March 2017
- Published11 March 2017
- Published11 March 2017