Premier League stats: Last Weekend In Summary

 

The Premier League returned in scintillating style this weekend, with numerous talking points across the top flight.

 

There was late drama at Old Trafford, a landmark appearance for a Manchester City legend and a rare lapse – if you can call it that – by a Liverpool defender.

 

BBC Sport takes a look at the weekend’s key stats.

 

 

 

Van Aanholt turns tables on United

 

Late winners in front of the Stretford End were a common occurrence during Sir Alex Ferguson’s 26-year, trophy-laden tenure at Manchester United.

 

Under the Scot, the Red Devils were renowned for their ability to score late, game-changing goals in front of their own fans. At Old Trafford on Saturday, however, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side found themselves on the receiving end of such a strike.

 

Daniel James appeared to have earned United a point with a sublime equaliser in the 89th minute, only for Patrick van Aanholt to score four minutes later to clinch Palace’s first win at the Theatre Of Dreams since 1989.

 

Remarkably, the Dutchman is only the second player to score a stoppage-time winner against United in the Premier League, and the first to do so at Old Trafford.

 

Thierry Henry was the last man to net a winner in stoppage time against the Manchester club in the league, scoring in Arsenal’s 2-1 victory at Emirates Stadium in January 2007.

 

Former Coventry City forward Darren Huckerby and ex-Southampton striker James Beattie have also netted late winning goals against the Red Devils, but both players struck before the end of the 90 minutes.

 

 

City manager Pep Guardiola recently revealed he thought David Silva would struggle in the Premier League after joining the club from Valencia in 2010.

 

“He’s tiny, a little player, not a box-to-box player and my image of England from the outside, I thought ‘maybe he’s going to suffer’,” said Guardiola, the man who handed Silva his 400th competitive City appearance in Sunday’s victory at Bournemouth.

 

The diminutive Spaniard is just the 14th different player to reach that landmark for the club, and the first since Paul Power in the 1980s.

 

Having achieved double figures for goals and assists in both of the last two campaigns, Silva registered his second and third assists of the season in City’s 3-1 victory at Vitality Stadium.

 

He has 85 assists in the Premier League, surpassing Liverpool’s James Milner (83) in seventh place.

 

“He played incredibly well,” said Guardiola. “David, in this kind of game, with a defence so deep and with such few spaces, is so good. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen.”

 

Since his arrival more than nine years ago, the 33-year-old has been the most creative player in the division, registering more assists (85) and creating more chances (747) than any other player. Nobody else in the Premier League has managed more than 60 assists in that time.

 

Who would have thought it, eh Pep?

Pukki & Sterling eye August record

 

Silva’s team-mate Raheem Sterling continued his prolific start to the season on the south coast, scoring City’s second goal after a fine pass from the Spaniard.

 

The England forward now has five goals this season, putting him level at the top of the goal-scoring charts with Teemu Pukki, who netted his fifth of the campaign in Norwich’s 3-2 defeat to Chelsea.

 

No player has ever scored more than six Premier League goals in the month of August, but with City and Norwich returning to league action on the final day of the month, both players have an opportunity to break that record.

 

The champions welcome Brighton to Etihad Stadium on Saturday 31 August (15:00 BST), while the Canaries face West Ham at London Stadium at the same time.

 

Former Celtic and Schalke forward Pukki is also only the second player, after ex-Fulham frontman Pavel Pogrebnyak, to score five goals in his first three Premier League appearances.

 

Frank Lampard’s youthful Chelsea side endured a difficult start to the campaign, a heavy loss at Old Trafford and a home draw with Leicester City coming either side of a penalty shootout defeat by Liverpool in the Uefa Super Cup.

 

On the evidence of the Blues’ vibrant and energetic display against Norwich, however, Lampard’s faith in his youngsters might yet bear fruit this season.

 

Homegrown youngsters Tammy Abraham (2) and Mason Mount got the goals at Carrow Road to earn Lampard his first win since replacing Maurizio Sarri in June.

 

Chelsea’s line-up had an average age of 24 years and 208 days – their youngest in the top flight since February 1994.

 

Former Swansea City and Aston Villa striker Abraham became the youngest Chelsea player to score twice in a Premier League fixture since 1998, and the third youngest overall in the division after Mark Nicholls and Eddie Newton.

 

Mount, who also netted in the 1-1 draw with Leicester, is the first Englishman aged 21 or under to score in consecutive Premier League appearances for Chelsea since Carlton Cole in April 2003.

 

Saturday’s win was also the first game in which two English players aged 21 or under scored in the same league game for the Blues since 22 August 1992, when Newton and Graham Stuart were on target against Sheffield Wednesday.

 

 

A Champions League winner, PFA player of the year and odds-on favourite to win the Ballon d’Or, Virgil van Dijk was arguably Liverpool’s most important player last season as Jurgen Klopp’s side narrowly missed out on Premier League glory before winning their sixth European crown

inMadrid.

 

Not only did the Dutchman form part of a defence that conceded only 22 league goals – the lowest number in any of Europe’s top five leagues – he was also the only player to play more than 1,000 minutes in those divisions without being dribbled past.

 

Could anyone get past the former Celtic and Southampton man this season? Step forward Nicolas Pepe, who on Saturday became the first player since Newcastle United’s Mikel Merino in 2018 to dribble past the 28-year-old in a Premier League match.

 

 

It mattered little, though, as Joel Matip’s header and a brace from Mohamed Salah earned Jurgen Klopp’s charges a 3-1 win which maintains their winning start to the campaign.