Your weekly dose of the finest brain-ticklers from @OptaJoe Towers
1.Liverpool have scored more Premier League goals in 2016 than any other side (50), with 24 of these coming away from home – a joint-league-high alongside Tottenham.
2.Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has not lost any of his last 30 home league matches as a manager (W28 D2), winning the last 21. His last home defeat in league competition came on January 6, 2013 with Juventus against Sampdoria.
3.Arsenal are looking to win 3 consecutive Premier League games (vs Hull this weekend) for the first time since December 2015. They are unbeaten in their last 25 Premier League games against newly promoted sides (W21 D4), since a 2-1 defeat at QPR in March 2012.
4. Santi Cazorla’s last 7 Premier League goals have been from the penalty spot – one more will create a new record in the division for the most (he's currently tied with Danny Murphy, Jan Molby and Mikel Arteta).
5.Leicester haven’t lost any of their last 9 league matches against Burnley (W6 D3).
6.Manchester City’s game against Bournemouth will be their 250th Premier League fixture at the Etihad Stadium, having won 61.5% of their league fixtures there since August 2003 (W153 D45 L51).
7. Pep Guardiola has won his first 4 Premier League matches – the only manager to win their opening 5 games was Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea (won his opening 6).
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8. Since Tony Pulis took charge at West Brom in January 2015, they have failed to score in 21 Premier League games – the joint-highest number among current clubs in the division (level with Crystal Palace and Sunderland).
9. Since the start of last season, West Ham’s Michail Antonio has scored 10 headed goals in the Premier League – more than any other player.
10. Should Everton beat Middlesbrough, it’ll be the first time in Premier League history that they’ve won 4 of their first 5 games and collected as many as 13 points at this stage. The last time the Toffees did this was back in 1978/79, when they finished 4th.
11.Manchester United’s last league defeat against Watford came in September 1986, two months before Sir Alex Ferguson was appointed manager.
12. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored 4 goals in his first 4 league games for United – the club record in a player’s first five Premier League games is 5 goals, set by both Louis Saha and Robin van Persie.
13. Stoke (vs Crystal Palace) have conceded 10 goals in their first 4 Premier League games of the season – they conceded 10 in their opening 9 matches of 2015/16.
14. Southampton (vs Swansea) are currently on the longest run in the Premier League without a clean sheet (16 games).
15. The last Saints manager to not win any of their first 5 Premier League games at the club was Harry Redknapp, who didn’t win any of his first 7 games from Dec 2004-Jan 2005.
16.Sunderland have lost 13 of their previous 15 away games at White Hart Lane in the Premier League (W1 D1). The only team Tottenham have beaten more often at home in the Premier League are Everton (14).
17. Jermain Defoe has scored in 6 successive Premier League away appearances. The only player to manage a better run in Premier League history is Robin van Persie, who scored in 9 successive away appearances for Arsenal in 2010/11.
Joe was the Deputy Editor at FourFourTwo until 2022, having risen through the FFT academy and been on the brand since 2013 in various capacities.
By weekend and frustrating midweek night he is a Leicester City fan, and in 2020 co-wrote the autobiography of former Foxes winger Matt Piper – subsequently listed for both the Telegraph and William Hill Sports Book of the Year awards.
