6 Surprising Premier League Stats – James Can Follow in Solskjaer’s Footsteps

The Premier League is back and Dan Fitch is on hand to help you recover from the entirely unnecessary international break, with his statistical breakdown of this weekend’s action.

Check out his six surprising Premier League stats below.

1. Liverpool v Newcastle

The Premier League leaders Liverpool kick off the weekend’s action in Saturday’s early kick off when they host Newcastle and the Reds will expect to score plenty of goals.

Even when Newcastle were at their peak, Liverpool would seemingly always beat them 4-3 and since the Magpies’ standards have slipped, the goals have kept flowing. Liverpool have scored 98 goals against Newcastle and on Saturday they have the chance to become only the third side to score 100 goals or more against a single club in Premier League history.

2. Brighton v Burnley

In Brighton’s last outing they were beaten 4-0 by Manchester City. That might not seem like a particularly positive result, but the Seagulls manager Graham Potter has reasons to be cheerful.

Brighton enjoyed 46.5% of possession against Manchester City, which is the fourth highest of any away team in a top-flight league match during the whole managerial career of Pep Guardiola. The next challenge is to actually do something useful which this possession (such as scoring a goal), starting with Saturday’s match against Burnley.

3. Wolves v Chelsea

Like Burnley last season, Wolves are finding out that trying to navigate their way through the Europa League and maintain their Premier League form is a tricky juggling act.

Wolves have still not won a game in the Premier League (P4 D3 L1) and their habit of starting games slowly is not helping. Some 60% of the goals they have conceded have come in the first 15 minutes of the game, which could be bad news against a Chelsea side that has scored during this period in two of their last three Premier League matches.

4. Manchester United v Leicester

As now seems to be something of a tradition, Manchester United once again spent a huge amount of money in the summer, without actually making their team any better.

The one new recruit who has made an immediate impact, is their cheapest summer signing – Daniel James. The Welsh international has scored three goals already for United and if he finds the net against Leicester, he’ll become only the second player to have scored in his first three Premier League games at Old Trafford – following in the footsteps of a certain Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

5. Norwich v Manchester City

It’s important for any team to go into a match against Manchester City with a positive outlook. They’ll almost certainly get thrashed regardless, but at least they won’t feel terrible about their own ability until after the game.

So, in order to perk up Manchester City’s next opponents Norwich, here’s a Premier League stat that can give them hope… Though the Canaries have lost eleven of their last twelve matches against reigning Premier League champions, the only occasion when they claimed victory was when they beat Manchester City 3-2 in 2013.

6. Watford v Arsenal

Watford have sacked so many managers that following the dismissal of Javi Gracia, they have been forced to appoint a manager that they have already sacked in the past. The new (and old) boss is Quique Sanchez Flores.

Despite a tricky first fixture against a potent Arsenal attack, there may be hope for Flores. Arsenal’s clumsy tacklers may well help him kick off his second reign at Watford with a win. Since the start of last season, only Brighton have conceded more penalties than Arsenal’s total of nine.