Friday, March 23, 2012

Premier League Opta Facts - March 24th - 26th


Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea and Tottenham have both won two and drawn four of the last eight meetings between the two sides in the Premier League.
Chelsea have lost just one of their last eight Premier League home games.
The west Londoners have won 16 and lost none of their last 24 matches against Spurs at Stamford Bridge in all competitions.
Harry Redknapp has lost his last eight visits to Stamford Bridge as a Premier League boss.
Spurs have managed a total of just six shots on target at Stamford Bridge spread across their last four league visits.
Chelsea have dropped the joint-most points from winning positions in the Premier League this season (15).
Chelsea have only won four of their last 14 Premier League matches (W4 D6 L4).
Tottenham have won just two of their last nine Premier League games and taken just one point from the last 12 available.
Tottenham have netted 10 goals in the opening 15 minutes of matches this season, a divisional high.
Juan Mata has created a scoring chance every 24.4 minutes this season, more often than any other player.

Arsenal v Aston Villa
Aston Villa have earned eight points in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium, more than any other away team.
Villa have won two and lost just one of their five Premier League visits to the Emirates after going 12 without a win at Highbury and losing the last eight in a row.
The two sides have already met at the Emirates in the FA Cup this season, with the Gunners coming from two down at half-time to win 3-2.
Arsenal have won three penalties in the two games against Villa this season, all converted by Robin van Persie.
Arsenal have won six league games in a row for the first time since March 2010. They haven't won seven on the bounce since October 2007.
Villa have conceded a higher percentage of goals from set pieces in the Premier League (46%).
The Gunners have scored the lowest percentage of goals from set plays (12%).
Laurent Koscielny has made more last-man saving tackles than any other player in the Premier League this season.
Stylian Petrov has made more interceptions than any other player in the top division (96).
Since defeat against Arsenal just before Christmas, Villa have lost just three of their 11 Premier League games (W3 D5 L3).

Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn have drawn 99 games away from home in Premier League history.
Bolton mustered just two shots on target in their 2-1 win over Blackburn at Ewood Park earlier this season.
Bolton have won just two of the last 10 Premier League meetings with Blackburn, but those two victories have come within the last three encounters.
Defeat to Bolton in the last match between the two at the Reebok signalled the end of Sam Allardyce's era at Blackburn and the appointment of Steve Kean.
Victory over QPR in their last league game ended a run of four consecutive defeats for Bolton.
Blackburn took just 10 points from their first 17 Premier League matches, but since Christmas they have taken 18 points from 12 games.
Junior Hoilett has scored three goals in his last two Premier League outings.
Bolton have failed to score in four of their last six Premier League games.
David Wheater is the only player in the Premier League to be red carded twice in the Premier League this season.
Bolton have the joint-most red cards in the Premier League this season (5).

Liverpool v Wigan Athletic
Liverpool have won none of the last four league meetings with Wigan, with the last three in a row ending as draws.
Wigan have won just one of their last 14 Premier League matches (W1 D7 L6).
The Latics have only scored eight goals in 13 Premier League meetings with Liverpool.
Only Wigan (8.4%) have a lower chance conversion rate than Liverpool (9.1%) in the Premier League this season.
Luis Suarez has won more penalties than any other player this season in the PL (4).
Gary Caldwell has conceded more penalties than any other Premier League player this season (4).
Only Wigan (7) and Wolves (5) have picked up fewer points than Liverpool (8) in 2012.
The Reds have lost four of their last five Premier League matches.
Only Man City have lost fewer Premier League home games than Liverpool (1), but the Reds have drawn the most home games this season (8).
32% of the goals Wigan have scored have come from outside the box, the highest proportion in the top flight.

Norwich City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Norwich fired in nine shots on target at Molineux against Wolves, their joint-most in a single Premier League game this season.
There have been 17 goals netted in the last three league matches between Norwich and Wolves.
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has scored five goals in the last three league games between Norwich and Wolves.
Norwich have only won one of the last 12 league meetings with Wolves (W1 D5 L6).
Wolves have won just one of their last 15 Premier League games and taken just one point from the last 15 available.
The Black Country outfit have gone 26 Premier League games without a clean sheet and have shipped 19 goals in the last five league matches.
Norwich have taken just one point from the last 12 available in the Premier League.
The Canaries have scored a higher percentage of headed goals than any other Premier League side (36%).
Norwich have won fewer penalties (1) than any other team in the Premier League.
Grant Holt has committed more fouls than any other player in the Premier League this season (70).

Sunderland v Queens Park Rangers
Sunderland are unbeaten in their last nine league games against QPR, winning six.
The Black Cats have won just one of their last five Premier League games (W1 D1 L3).
Sunderland have won five and lost just one of seven Premier League games at the Stadium of Light under Martin O'Neill.
QPR have earned just two points from the last 24 available in the Premier League away from home.
50% of the goals QPR have netted have been scored in the first half, the highest proportion in the top division.
QPR have used 35 different players in the Premier League this season, more than any other team.
Adel Taarabt has had the most shots of any player this season who hasn't scored a Premier League goal (64).
QPR have won just two of their last 17 Premier League games (W2 D4 L6).
Lee Cattermole has the worst disciplinary record in the top flight with eight yellows and one red this season in the league.
QPR have picked up the joint-most red cards in the top flight this season (5).

Swansea City v Everton
Swansea have won the last three Premier League games in a row without conceding.
Swansea have lost just one of their last eight Premier League home games (W3 D4 L1).
Gylfi Sigurdsson has scored five goals in his last six Premier League appearances for the Swans, though he is yet to score at the Liberty Stadium.
Everton have committed more fouls than any other team in the Premier League (368).
Swansea have committed fewer fouls than any other team in the top flight (240).
68% of the goals Everton have scored have been netted in the second half of games, the highest proportion of any team in the Premier League this season.
Everton have had 16 different goalscorers this season, the joint-most in the Premier League along with Arsenal and Manchester United, but no Toffees player has scored more than three goals.
Royston Drenthe has won a foul every 25 minutes this season, a more regular rate than any other Premier League player.
Ashley Williams has blocked more opposition shots than any other player in the Premier League this season (35).
Everton have scored just 13 goals in their last 17 Premier League matches and only more than once in one of those games.

Stoke City v Manchester City
Stoke didn't manage a single shot on target in their visit to the Etihad Stadium just before Christmas.
City had 76% of possession against Stoke in their meeting earlier this season, second only in the whole Premier League to the 78% they enjoyed at home v Blackburn.
Man City have conceded a higher proportion of second half goals of any team in the top flight (81%).
The Potters have shipped a higher proportion of first half goals of any Premier League side this season (53%).
Stoke have fired in fewer shots on target than any other side in the top division (72: 31 fewer than any other side, Swansea 103).
Manchester City have mustered the joint-most shots on target in the Premier League this season (188).
Tony Pulis' side have scored a higher percentage of set piece goals than any other team in the top flight (60.7%, almost twice the league average of 31.4%).
Man City have won the last three games against Stoke in all competitions without conceding a goal.
The Citizens have not won in their last four trips to the Britannia Stadium in all competitions (W0 D2 L2).
The last goal Carlos Tevez scored for Manchester City was netted versus Stoke City; he netted two in the 3-0 win over the Potters at the Etihad Stadium last May.

West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United
Newcastle have picked up 999 points in the Premier League era.
Newcastle have given away more penalties than any other team in the Premier League (9).
There have been 35 goals scored in the last eight meetings in all competitions between West Brom and Newcastle and neither side has managed a clean sheet in that run.
West Brom have lost just one of their last five Premier League games (W3 D1 L1), while Newcastle have won just one of their last five (W1 D2 L2).
The Baggies have lost none of the last six games in all competitions against the Magpies (W3 D3 L0).
Newcastle have lost six of their last nine Premier League away games (W2 D1 L6).
Danny Simpson has cleared more shots off the line than any other Premier League player (6).
Demba Ba has scored four goals in two appearances against West Brom.
Peter Lovenkrands has scored in all four of his league appearances against West Brom, three in the Premier League and one in the Championship.
Some Tchoyi has scored four goals in two Premier League games against Newcastle, while Peter Odemwingie has netted three in two matches against the Tynesiders.

Manchester United v Fulham
Manchester United scored five goals from eight shots on target when they beat Fulham at Craven Cottage back in December.
Wayne Rooney has scored 16 goals in his last 16 appearances in all competitions for Manchester United.
Rooney has netted five goals in his last four appearances against Fulham at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils have won nine penalties this season, more than any other team.
Man Utd have scored the joint-most headed goals (14) and nine different players have scored one for the 2010-11 champions this season.
Man Utd have won their last seven Premier League games at Old Trafford against Fulham, with the Londoners failing to score in their last four and their only goal in the previous match was an own goal by Rio Ferdinand.
Danny Murphy has scored more goals (5) against Manchester United than versus any other opponent apart from Newcastle (six).
Pavel Pogrebynak has scored five Premier League goals from five shots on target.
Only David Silva (12) has more goal assists than Antonio Valencia (11) in the top flight this season.
Martin Jol has never beaten Manchester United as a manager in the Premier League (D2 L5), losing his last five games against them.