Premier League stats: Pointless Palace, record-breaking Aguero and a century for Kane
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Who are the next side in the football pyramid after Crystal Palace not to have scored this season?
Have any teams survived losing their opening four games?
And why was Dwight Yorke not celebrating Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero's goal - apart from having played for Manchester United?
BBC Sport looks at some of the most interesting statistics from the Premier League weekend.
Pointless and goalless
When Scott Dann somehow missed an open goal with minutes remaining of Crystal Palace's 1-0 defeat at Burnley, it confirmed a pointless, and goalless, start to the season for Frank de Boer's side.
Palace have now gone 450 minutes, and almost four months, without a top-flight goal. It is also 93 years since a top-flight side last failed to score and lost their opening four games - Preston North End in 1924-25.
But how far down the Football League ladder do you have to go to find the next side who have not celebrated at least a goal this term? League One? National League?
Nope. Try again.
In fact the next team down the footballing ladder who are yet to trouble the scorers are Oadby Town of the United Counties League Premier Division, a massive 186 places below Palace in the league.
Oadby boss Dave Clay paid the price for a scoreless start at the end of August when he was sacked, external, although, like Palace, the Poachers kept off the bottom of the league thanks to goal difference.
The Leicestershire club did manage a goal on Saturday - in a 2-1 defeat away to Quorn - but that was a UCL Cup game. Their next chance to get off the mark in the league comes on Tuesday night when they are at home to St Andrews. Palace have to wait until Saturday lunchtime, when they host Southampton.
Misery loves company
Palace became the 10th side in Premier League history to lose their opening four games of the season a day after Bournemouth became the ninth.
The Cherries were beaten 3-0 by Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Saturday but sit just above Palace in the table thanks to scoring once this season.
This is the first time two sides in the same season have lost four consecutive times to start a campaign - and West Ham could join them if they lose to Huddersfield on Monday.
Worrying times for all three clubs - but does history suggest they are doomed? Not necessarily. Of the eight previous teams to lose their opening four games, half avoided relegation.
Season | Team | Final position | Relegated |
---|---|---|---|
1993-94 | Swindon Town | 22 | Yes |
1997-98 | Aston Villa | 7 | No |
1998-99 | Southampton | 17 | No |
2001-02 | Middlesbrough | 12 | No |
2005-06 | Sunderland | 20 | Yes |
2009-10 | Portsmouth | 20 | Yes |
2010-11 | West Ham | 20 | Yes |
2012-13 | Southampton | 14 | No |
Aguero top of the rest of the world
When Sergio Aguero rounded Simon Mignolet for the opener in Manchester City's 5-0 thrashing of Liverpool, he became the top non-European goalscorer in Premier League history
The Argentina striker has now scored 124 goals, surpassing the previous record held by Trinidad and Tobago international Dwight Yorke.
It has taken the 29-year-old 185 appearances to break the record since joining City from Atletico Madrid in 2011.
Yorke reached his tally after 375 games, while the next four names on the list - Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor, Yakubu and Mark Viduka - all played at least 240 times in the Premier League.
A century at Goodison
No centurions at Lord's in the Test match but an England international did bring up his hundred on Saturday.
Tottenham striker Harry Kane's fluke opener in the 3-0 victory over Everton was his 100th for the club in all competitions, with the 24-year-old adding his 101st shortly after the break.
It has taken Kane 169 games to reach the milestone - 12 fewer than it took Thierry Henry to do the same at Arsenal.
Location does not seem to faze Kane - who has scored 50 times both home and away and once at a neutral venue - while former loan side Leicester City are his favourite target, scoring nine times against the Foxes.
Seeing yellow
It was a less auspicious century for now former England striker Wayne Rooney, who became only the second player after Gareth Barry to receive 100 yellow cards in the Premier League.
Lee Bowyer and Kevin Davies left themselves cruelly stranded on 99 bookings when their top-flight careers ended.
Notorious crunching tackler Paul Scholes picked up 97 yellows, while Scott Parker (92) is the other player to have amassed at least 90 bookings.
Better without the ball?
And finally, on Saturday West Brom recorded over 50% possession for just the 10th time in their 98 Premier League games under manager Tony Pulis.
Not that it helped - they were beaten 3-1 by Brighton. In fact, more often than not it does not - the Baggies have now lost six of those 10 games, winning four, but never scoring more than one goal when they have had more of the ball.
Since Pulis took charge in 2015, West Brom have had an average possession of 38% and a record of 31 wins, 28 draws and 39 losses.
- Published10 September 2017
- Published10 September 2017
- Published10 September 2017