MY ACCOUNT
Manchester United scrambled a draw at Chelsea as Casemiro’s late heroics saved the day for Erik ten Hag.
That was the climax to a four-game Premier League programme on Saturday, and it was one that saw Liverpool slip up at their bogey ground, Manchester City go past 600 Premier League goals in the Pep Guardiola era, and Everton finally find some scoring form at Goodison Park.
City have closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to one point, ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Southampton on Sunday.
Here, Stats Perform picks out the best facts from the day’s Premier League action.
Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United: Casemiro saves the day for Red Devils
Jorginho’s 87th-minute penalty looked set to be the winner, but Casemiro had other ideas, heading home to earn a point for United in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Only Arsenal (12) and Chelsea (9) have had more different Brazilians score a Premier League goal for them than United, after Casemiro became the eighth on their list. The goal, time at 93:28, was United’s latest equaliser in a league game since Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored at the death in April 2017 against Everton (93:41).
Jorginho has now scored 19 of his 22 penalties in the Premier League for Chelsea, with only Frank Lampard having netted more spot-kicks for the Blues in the competition (41).
Setting aside the late drama, the outcome should come as little surprise. No Premier League fixture has been drawn as often as Chelsea against United (26 draws). Seven of the past nine such meetings have finished level now, including each of the past five.
Chelsea are now winless in their past 10 Premier League games against United (D7 L3) – only against Blackburn Rovers (12 games between 1992 and 1998) and Arsenal (19 between 1995 and 2005) have they ever had a longer winless run in the competition.
Raheem Sterling lasted 79 minutes before being replaced. He has now faced United 24 times in all competitions in his professional career, more than any other opponent, but has never scored past them, despite attempting 38 shots across those games (15 on target).
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Liverpool: Klopp rattled by City Ground slip-up
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp picked fault with his team’s finishing after this painful defeat, pointing to misses by Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk, but this was just the latest in a line of disappointments in Nottingham for the Anfield giants.
Liverpool have never won in six Premier League away games against Forest (D3 L3), making the City Ground the only stadium where the Reds have played more than once in the competition and never won.
Taking in results from the pre-Premier League era, Liverpool have failed to win on any of their past 13 league trips to Forest (D7 L6).
This was their first visit on league duty since 1999, with a once-fierce rivalry having been on hold during Forest’s time outside the top flight. The outcome gave Forest a first home success in the competition over Liverpool since a 1-0 victory in March 1996.
Liverpool have cause for concern: they have failed to win any of their first five away games in a Premier League season for the first time since 2006-07 under Rafael Benitez, and they have three league defeats in 2022-23 already, one more than in the whole of the 2021-22 campaign.
Match-winner Taiwo Awoniyi became the first Forest player to score in each of his first three Premier League starts at the City Ground, lifting Steve Cooper’s team off the foot of the table.
Manchester City 3-1 Brighton and Hove Albion: Haaland matches Aguero, De Bruyne goes level with Silva
Erling Haaland has gone off hat-tricks, but doubles will do fine for now. With two goals against Brighton, he became the first City player to score in seven consecutive home games in all competitions since Sergio Aguero in February 2018. The Norwegian has 15 goals in those seven matches. His second goal was City’s 600th in the Premier League since Guardiola took charge for the 2016-17 season.
Kevin De Bruyne was no bystander in this victory, putting the seal on the success with a fine second-half strike after Leandro Trossard closed the gap. De Bruyne has been directly involved in 153 Premier League goals for City (59 goals, 94 assists), with Saturday’s effort putting him level with David Silva’s goal involvements tally for the club (60 goals, 93 assists) and behind only Aguero (231 – 184 goals, 47 assists).
City have won 10 consecutive Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium, including all six this season. This is the fifth time they have begun a Premier League campaign by winning their opening six home matches (also 2007-08, 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2018-19).
While City thrive, Brighton are fading. Roberto De Zerbi has become the fourth manager/head coach to fail to win any of his first five league games with the club, after Barry Lloyd (first 12), Don Welsh (first 8) and George Curtis (first 5).
The Seagulls remain winless away to City in all 13 league visits in their history (D2 L11), losing their last nine.
Everton 3-0 Crystal Palace: Toffees end slide, pass goals milestone
After consecutive losses to Manchester United, Tottenham and Newcastle United, Everton got back on track thanks to goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Anthony Gordon and substitute Dwight McNeil.
Calvert-Lewin’s opener was Everton’s 1,500th goal in the Premier League, making the Toffees the seventh side to reach that total and the first since Manchester City in January 2021.
It was raining goals by recent Everton standards, with Frank Lampard’s team having only managed three goals in total across their five previous Premier League games this season.
