Match of the Day
Only one point from the top four this week-end means Chelsea still have chance to catch Liverpool and Spurs. Stoke first condemned to the drop
Liverpool’s five goals haul is the 66th time a team has done this since Manchester United last achieved it. Manchester City account for 17 of them
Assists per Goal
There will be ongoing debate about whether or not Manchester City are the best ever Premier League champions and the lack of a decent rival and the 1-5 aggregate defeat by Liverpool in the Champions Leaguw will both be held against them
However, there is little doubt that they have played some exhilirating football often involving intricate passing movements ending with a simple tap in. 30 of their goals have been finished off from within the 6 yard box
The number of assists per goal is a crudish method of measuring the type of goal scored
Allowing up to two assists per goal, here is every teams record in Premier League history
A little inconclusive. Manchester City’s haul of 146 is already the greatest ever by a team in a season, after just 36 games. However, on a per goal basis they are middle of the pack although well above both Liverpool (think over the top balls to Salah) and Chelsea (think the Azpilicueta-Morata linkup)
Man City have scored 30 goals with the last contact in the six-yard box - more than Huddersfield or Swansea have managed in total
Perfect Records
Now we are at the tail end of the season we can see for each player in a team how many games they started in and the record when they did, in terms of points per game
NB Points are jittered so that each player’s information can be accessed on hoveringClick on individual teams to show only their players
At the time of publication, Man City’s Laporte had a perfect record of seven starts seven wins. On the flip side, Palace’s six starts by Puncheon did not result in a single point
Tweet of the Week
If #WBA avoid defeat against #CPFC next week they will join 52 other #premierleague teams who have not lost in their final 6 games of a season. Of these, only #NUFC in 2015/16 were relegated as #SAFC matched them and finished 1 position higher @BenDinnery
— Andrew Clark (@pssGuy) May 5, 2018
Totally Football and Guardian Weekly Review Podcasts
Results and Table
Final Factoid
For all the plaudits Roy Hodgson is receiving, under him Crystal Palace have averaged just 1.24 points per game. In comparison, immediate predecessors Allardyce, 1.24. and Pardew 1.21 have comparable records
Plenty more NEW data at the premiersoccerstats site
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or work offers