The Six Best Premier League Stats from Matchday 5

After the latest round of 2024-25 Premier League games, our excellent team at OptaJoe has unearthed all sorts of facts. Here, we look at the best Premier League stats from Matchday 5.

Since the start of 2023-24, Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer have combined for 10 Premier League goals; at least two more than any other duo.

Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer fired Chelsea to a London derby victory against West Ham on Saturday to kick off Matchday 5. Jackson scored twice in the 3-0 win, before assisting Palmer’s goal in the 47th minute.

That assist meant that those two teammates have set up 10 Premier League goals for one another since the start of last season, which is more than any other partnership. That tally is two more than Aston Villa’s forward pairing of Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins, who have created eight goals for one another in that time.

It is still miles away from the all-time Premier League record for the best goal combinations. Harry Kane and Son Heung-min hold that record, having assisted 47 goals for each other in the competition while at Tottenham Hotspur, which overtook the previous record holders, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, who created 36 for one another in Chelsea colours.

Other combinations in the all-time Premier League top five for this stat are David Silva and Sergio Agüero (29), Robert Pires and Thierry Henry (29) and Darren Anderton and Teddy Sheringham (27).

Among teams that have been played opponents at least 15 times in the Premier League, only Manchester United against Wigan (3.13 – 50 goals in 16 games) have averaged more goals per game than Liverpool against Bournemouth (3.07 – 46 goals in 15 games).

Liverpool enjoyed a 3-0 victory over Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday afternoon, which means they have now scored 46 goals in 15 matches against the Cherries in the Premier League.

On a goals-per-game basis, this is the second highest by one club against an opponent (of those to play at least 15 games versus a team). Their 3.07 goals-per-game average against Bournemouth is below only Manchester United’s 3.13 average against Wigan Athletic.

Of course, nine of those 46 goals came in a single fixture back in August 2022, when Liverpool equalled the record for the biggest win in Premier League history with their 9-0 victory over Bournemouth at Anfield.

Another noteworthy fact from this match was that Trent Alexander-Arnold hit 100 goal involvements for Liverpool in the win after he assisted Luis Díaz for the Reds’ second.

Everton’s Ashley Young (39y 74d) is one of only five players aged 39+ to assist a Premier League goal, along with Teddy Sheringham, Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs and Thiago Silva.

Everton once again started brightly, but for a third consecutive match, they squandered a lead. There were some consolations for them, though: they weren’t two goals up in this one and they came away with their first point of the season.

The goal to put them 1-0 up against Leicester City on Saturday was scored by Iliman Ndiaye, who netted his first Premier League goal. He was set up by a clever line-breaking pass from Ashley Young, who at 39 years and 74 days old, became just the fifth player to assist a Premier League goal aged 39 or older.

He will still have to play another season of top-flight football to get a chance of breaking the all-time record for the oldest player to assist a Premier League goal, however. That record, somewhat surprisingly, is held by goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. The Dutchman assisted a goal in Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford in February 2011, aged 40 years, 95 days old.

Since the start of last season, Brentford have dropped more points from winning positions than any other side in the Premier League (36), while only Manchester City (30) have won more points from behind than Tottenham (28).

It was a familiar tale for Brentford on Saturday, as they once again took the lead in a Premier League match but squandered points.

It was also the second Saturday in a row that they opened the scoring inside the first 23 seconds but went on to lose. In fact, Brentford became just the second team to score in the opening minute of consecutive Premier League games after Manchester City in February 2019 (versus Newcastle and Arsenal).

This also means that Brentford have lost back-to-back Premier League games in which they have led at some point for the first time since they won promotion in 2020-21.

Overall, since the start of last season, Brentford have dropped more points from winning positions than any other side in the Premier League (36) – four more than Nottingham Forest (32).

They have lost eight matches in which they have held a lead at some point since August 2023, which is two more than any other side in the league, while they have drawn another six games that they have led in.

Brentford’s tally of points lost from leading positions in 2023-24 (30) was the fifth most ever by a side in a single Premier League season, and worryingly it seems like this season could follow a similar path.

This is a new problem for them. Brentford began life as a Premier League team with a good record when leading. Across their first two seasons in the competition in 2021-22 and 2022-23, the Bees were ahead at some point in 39 different games and lost just one of those (drawing 10).

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland became the first player in Premier League history to reach 10 goals in as few as five games from the start of a season.

Erling Haaland scored again this weekend, opening the scoring in Man City’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium to net his 10th Premier League goal of the season.

That goal – also Haaland’s 100th in all competitions for Man City – saw him break another Premier League record, as he reached 10 goals in the fewest matches to start a season. That record was originally shared by Haaland (2022-23) and Mick Quinn (1992-93), who scored 10 goals inside their first six appearances of those seasons.

Haaland also broke his own record of the most goals scored inside the first five matches played in a Premier League season. He scored nine in his first five games of 2022-23, which was a record he shared with Wayne Rooney, who became the first player to score as many as nine goals in his first five appearances within a Premier League season in 2011-12 for Manchester United.

For the first time in English top-flight history, as many as six different teams have failed to win any of their opening five league games.

We’re now five matchdays into the 2024-25 Premier League season, but there are six teams still without a win.

Wolverhampton Wanderers sit bottom of the league, level on one point alongside winless Everton and Southampton, while Ipswich Town, Crystal Palace and Leicester City are also still yet to pick up all three points in a game this season.

This is a new record this deep into the season, overtaking seven separate campaigns that saw five teams fail to win across their opening five matches. Four of these occurred in Premier League seasons – 2023-24, 2021-22, 2012-13 and 1994-95 – while the other three happened in the days of the old Division One – 1973-74, 1972-73 and 1964-65.

With six teams still without a victory, there’s a chance we could witness the longest winless start to a Premier League campaign by one of those sides. That current record is held by Sheffield United, who failed to win any of their opening 17 games in 2020-21 on the way to relegation.

The all-time top-flight record for a winless start is held by Bolton Wanderers in 1902-03, who didn’t win any of their first 22 matches that season.

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