MY ACCOUNT
Liverpool and Chelsea failed to find a cure for their January blues as the out-of-form giants played out a goalless draw in Saturday’s headline Premier League clash at Anfield.
While Graham Potter’s visitors went close through £89million signing Mykhaylo Mudryk, the contest offered a stark reminder of why both teams are marooned in mid-table, though there was plenty of intrigue to be found elsewhere.
While Champions League-chasing Newcastle United failed to make further inroads in a stalemate of their own at Crystal Palace, it was a day of contrasting fortunes at the bottom.
West Ham clinched a huge win over Everton as Leicester City were pegged back by Brighton and Hove Albion, leaving both Frank Lampard and Brendan Rodgers under severe pressure.
Here, Stats Perform takes a look at the most interesting facts to emerge from Saturday’s Premier League action.
Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea: Reds and Blues fire another blank
Fans of Liverpool and Chelsea have become accustomed to goalless draws when their sides meet. Saturday’s game represented the third consecutive fixture between the teams to finish 0-0.
Liverpool have only recorded a longer such run against an opponent once in their history, playing out four successive 0-0 draws with Everton in 1974 and 1975. Chelsea have never done so.
Jurgen Klopp would have been hoping to see Cody Gakpo hit the ground running when he arrived from PSV earlier this month, but the Netherlands international disappointed once again at Anfield – since his Reds debut on January 7, no Premier League player has had more shots without scoring in all competitions than Gakpo’s 12.
While Potter has now overseen 16 goalless draws since making his Premier League bow in the 2019-20 season, at least twice as many as any other manager in that time, Klopp was left to curse the identity of Liverpool’s opponents on a landmark occasion.
The German has now completed 1,000 games as a manager – 411 with Liverpool, 319 with Borussia Dortmund and 270 with Mainz. However, 10 of his 20 career meetings with Chelsea have been drawn, more than against any other side.
Leicester City 2-2 Brighton and Hove Albion: Foxes denied by in-form Ferguson
At the King Power Stadium, Leicester looked to be on course for a crucial victory when goals from Marc Albrighton and Harvey Barnes put them on top following Kaoru Mitoma’s stunning opener.
Barnes has scored more Premier League goals (seven) in 18 appearances this season than he did in 32 games last term (six), but the winger was to be outdone at the death as Evan Ferguson headed a late leveller for Brighton.
With three goals and two assists in his five Premier League appearances, Ferguson is averaging a goal involvement every 40 minutes in the competition – the best ratio among players to have played at least 90 minutes this term.
The result leaves Leicester boss Rodgers facing mounting pressure, with the Foxes winless in their last five league games (W1, D4) after winning five of their previous eight.
West Ham 2-0 Everton: Bowen at the double as Lampard’s woes deepen
At the London Stadium, West Ham struck a huge blow in the battle to avoid the drop, ending a run of seven league matches without a win (D1, L6) as Jarrod Bowen’s brace sunk Everton.
The England international was on hand for two close-range finishes before the interval as the Hammers escaped the relegation zone. With 21 goals at the venue, Bowen is now level with Michail Antonio as the joint-top scorer at the London Stadium.
Everton, however, are in crisis mode after collecting just 15 points from their first 20 games of the season. Accounting for three points per win across all seasons, this is the Toffees’ worst return at this point of a campaign in their history.
Their run of eight league games without a win (D2, L6) is the longest of Lampard’s managerial career, casting further doubt on his future at Goodison Park.
Crystal Palace 0-0 Newcastle United: Magpies showcase solidity at Selhurst Park
Newcastle’s failure to make the breakthrough against Crystal Palace will not have pleased Eddie Howe, but a sixth consecutive Premier League clean sheet demonstrated the solid streak which has put them in top-four contention.
The Magpies’ run of six successive shutouts is the longest managed by a Premier League side under an English manager since Steve McClaren’s Middlesbrough went seven games without conceding in the 2003-04 campaign.
Meanwhile, Newcastle’s sequence of 15 games without defeat in the Premier League (W9, D6) is now the longest in their top-flight history.
Having also drawn 0-0 in the return fixture at St James’ Park in September, Palace and Newcastle have attempted 64 shots between them without scoring in their two Premier League meetings this term – the most of any two sides in a single season on record (since 2003-04).
