MY ACCOUNT
Even numerous coronavirus-enforced cancellations could not stop the Premier League’s Boxing Day schedule from delivering a mountain of goals.
Leaders Manchester City demolished Leeds United 7-0 earlier in December before a 4-0 thrashing of Newcastle and followed that up with a nine-goal thriller against Leicester City.
Mikel Arteta’s in-form Arsenal maintained their pursuit of a Champions League spot by smashing five past struggling Norwich City, while the reinvigorated Tottenham cruised past London rivals Crystal Palace.
Staying in the capital, West Ham’s poor run of form continued in a 3-2 home loss to Southampton before Chelsea came from behind to defeat Aston Villa on the road.
After plenty of festive cheer across Sunday’s top-flight action, Stats Perform takes a look at the pick of the Opta data.
Tottenham 3-0 Crystal Palace: Conte’s deadly trio down sorry Eagles
Spurs had lost just one of their last 12 top-flight home games against Palace and continued that impressive run of form as Harry Kane equalled another record in a dominant 3-0 win.
Kane opened the scoring in the first half after Lucas Moura set him up, netting in his sixth consecutive Boxing Day fixture as he equalled Robbie Fowler’s Premier League scoring record of nine goals on the day after Christmas.
Lucas added a second as he scored and assisted in the same top-flight game for the first time, with the Brazilian registering five goal involvements in his last five league games, as many as in his previous 23 matches in the competition.
Wilfried Zaha’s first-half dismissal for two bookable offences compounded Palace’s misery, the winger’s fifth red card for the Eagles in all competitions – three more than any other player for the club since his debut in 2010.
Son Heung-min then scored his sixth goal in six home top-flight games against Palace, as Antonio Conte became just the third Spurs boss to go unbeaten in their first six league games after Jacques Santini in 2004-05 and Tim Sherwood in 2013-14.
Manchester City 6-3 Leicester City: Citizens defeat Foxes in Boxing Day record thriller
City went down 5-2 in this fixture last season but triumphed in a 6-3 classic this time around, despite a spirited second-half fightback from Leicester, in the first Premier League game on Boxing Day to see as many as nine goals.
Kevin de Bruyne netted first and has now scored in five of his last six league starts at the Etihad Stadium, before Riyad Mahrez scored in his fourth consecutive appearance for the first time since he moved to England in 2014 as he converted from the spot.
Raheem Sterling, who has won the most penalties by any player in Premier League history (22), rolled another spot-kick in, while Ilkay Gundogan was on target as Leicester went 4-0 down inside 25 minutes for the first time in the top flight since Watford did so against City in 2019.
Leicester reduced the deficit after the interval as James Maddison found the net for the fourth time in his last five top-flight appearances before loanee Ademola Lookman finished past Ederson.
Those two earlier goals were teed up by Kelechi Iheanacho, who assisted twice in a top-flight match for the first time before adding a goal of his own to make it 4-3.
However, Pep Guardiola’s side confirmed victory with an Aymeric Laporte header and Sterling’s second – City’s 112th league goal in 2021, the most a team has netted in a year since Arsenal also scored 112 in 1963.
Norwich City 0-5 Arsenal: Saka at the double as Gunners equal away record
Bukayo Saka registered a brace as high-flying Arsenal ran riott in a 5-0 victory over Norwich, who have played more Premier League games on Boxing Day without ever winning than any other side in the competition (eight).
Saka struck his first after just six minutes before his second arrived after the hour mark. At 20 years and 112 days, he is the second-youngest player to score 10-plus Premier League goals for Arsenal, after Nicolas Anelka (19y 225d).
Kieran Tierney doubled the Gunners’ lead in between Saka’s pair of goals, with Martin Odegaard providing his second assist of the game – the Norway international has been involved in six goals in his last six league games, two more than he had in his first 25 appearances in the competition.
Alexandre Lacazette added a fourth, while Emile Smith Rowe scored after coming off the bench once again – his league-leading third goal as a substitute. No top-flight team have bettered Arsenal’s five goals from substitutes this season.
Norwich were unable to find a way past Aaron Ramsdale as the Gunners registered their joint-biggest margin of victory away from home in a Premier League match, while scoring four-plus goals in consecutive away league games for the first time since 2009.
Aston Villa 1-3 Chelsea: Jorginho penalty brace seals Blues comeback triumph
Chelsea have stuttered in recent weeks but returned to winning ways as a Jorginho brace ensured they came from behind to defeat Aston Villa 3-1.
Reece James inadvertently flicked into his own net as Villa were gifted an own goal by Chelsea in the Premier League for only the second time, after Frank Sinclair also turned past his own goalkeeper back in December 1994.
Jorginho soon restored parity from the spot after Matthew Cash had felled Callum Hudson-Odoi before substitute Romelu Lukaku headed the Blues into the lead with his ninth top-flight goal in 10 appearances against Villa.
Jorginho wrapped things up as he rolled in again from 12 yards, with his 17th Premier League strike from the spot. In fact, 89 per cent of his 19 goals have come from penalties, the highest such ratio of anyone with 10-plus goals in the competition’s history.
Since Thomas Tuchel’s first game in charge in January, the Blues have scored more penalties than any other club in England’s premier competition (12), with Jorginho netting 10 of these himself – more than any other club besides Chelsea in that period.
