MY ACCOUNT
A week certainly is a long time in football.
Just six days ago, jaws were on the floor as Liverpool handed in-form Manchester United their heaviest defeat in over 90 years, thumping their old rivals 7-0 at Anfield.
On Saturday, Jurgen Klopp’s men went down 1-0 to previously bottom-of-the-table Bournemouth, who bounced back from their agonising last-minute defeat at Arsenal last time out.
Manchester City also had a tough away game at Crystal Palace but came out on the right side of a one-goal outcome to close the gap on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
Chelsea continued their rise in form with a third win in a week, while Antonio Conte’s mood presumably improved as his Tottenham side beat Nottingham Forest.
Stats Perform has taken a look into some Opta data from the pick of the day’s action.
Bournemouth 1-0 Liverpool: Reds bubble popped by Cherries
Last week at Anfield, it felt like Liverpool would score every time they surged forward. On Saturday at the Vitality Stadium, they looked like they would struggle to find the net even if Bournemouth had left the field for a few minutes.
This was just Bournemouth’s second ever competitive win against Liverpool, and their first since their famous 4-3 victory in December 2016. It was also just their second clean sheet against the Reds and their first since January 1968 (0-0).
Philip Billing’s first-half strike was his sixth goal in the league this season, twice as many as he had managed in his previous three campaigns in England’s top-flight combined (three in 77 games).
Mohamed Salah was electric against United, but his only moment of note this week saw the Egyptian smash a second-half penalty wide, the first time he had missed the target from the spot in the Premier League (18 scored, two saved prior to Saturday).
The Reds lost consecutive Premier League matches against opponents starting the day bottom of the table for the first time since December 2010-February 2011 (vs Wolves and West Ham respectively), and have failed to win away against all three promoted clubs (D1 L2) in a single Premier League campaign for only the third time, also doing so in 2010-11 (L3) and 2003-04 (D2 L1).
Leicester City 1-3 Chelsea: Potter weaves his magic to get Blues firing again
Before last week, Graham Potter’s Chelsea were a mess, having won only two of their previous 15 games.
Seven days later and they are on a run of three wins, completing the league double over Leicester for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign.
It also meant an end to a run of eight Premier League away games without a victory for the Blues (D4 L4), with this their first win on the road since a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa in October.
This was Leicester’s 16th Premier League defeat of the season, with no team having suffered more (Southampton also 16), and they conceded first for the ninth consecutive league game, doing so 14 times in total this season, only Southampton (18) and West Ham (17) have shipped the opening goal of the game more often in 2022-23.
Chelsea’s goals came through Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic, with Havertz scoring his first Premier League away goal since October (v Brighton).
Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers has suffered as many as 16 defeats in a single league season for the first time in his career, which was not an ideal way to celebrate his 150th Premier League game as Leicester manager (W64 D29 L57). Only Martin O’Neill has managed more games in the competition for the club (152), while only Claudio Ranieri (44 per cent) has a better win percentage than Rodgers (43 per cent).
Tottenham 3-1 Nottingham Forest: Kane able to reignite Spurs’ season
Taking advantage of Liverpool’s slip in the race for the top four, Tottenham recovered from their Champions League exit to Milan by easing past Forest thanks to goals from Harry Kane (two) and Son Heung-min.
Despite the 0-0 against Milan at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday, none of Spurs’ last 24 home league games have been drawn (W17 L7), while today was the first time they have had a two-goal lead at half-time in a Premier League home game since beating Arsenal last May.
Steve Cooper’s Forest have lost all four of their league games in London this season by an aggregate score of 14-1. It is the first time they have lost four consecutive league games in the capital since February 1999 (a run of five).
Kane has now scored eight headed goals in the Premier League this season – only former Everton and Newcastle United striker Duncan Ferguson has ever netted more in a single campaign (nine in 1997-98).
The England captain has also scored 20 goals in a Premier League season for the sixth time, with only Alan Shearer (seven) doing so in more different campaigns than the Tottenham striker.
Fraser Forster’s late penalty save from Andre Ayew was the fourth of his last eight penalties faced in the Premier League that he has kept out.
Crystal Palace 0-1 Manchester City: Haaland steps up again as Palace fire blanks once more
It was far from a typical dominant Man City display, but Erling Haaland’s late penalty earned them three points at Selhurst Park.
Despite their uncharacteristic wobbles this season, City have won five of their last six Premier League games (D1), and are on the longest current unbeaten run in the competition (six games).
Palace defended well in the main, but also became the first team on record (since 2003-04) to fail to have a single shot on target in three consecutive Premier League matches.
The Eagles remain winless in their 10 league games in 2023 (D5 L5), while no side has failed to score in more different Premier League games this season (12).
Haaland scored his 10th away goal of the season in the league – with 18 also scored at home, he is just the second City player to reach double figures both home and away in a single Premier League campaign, after Sergio Aguero in 2014-15 (13 home, 13 away).
No player has scored more penalties in England’s top-flight this season than Haaland (five, level with Brentford’s Ivan Toney). Only Yaya Toure has scored more from the spot in a single campaign for the Citizens (six in 2013-14).
