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Another great weekend of football, another great set of numbers. Here are the best from Europe’s top leagues.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Manchester City stumbled against a Jonjo Shelvey-inspired Newcastle, while Manchester United and Arsenal were held to draws by Aston Villa and Norwich City respectively. Meanwhile, Leicester snatched an injury-time winner against Everton and Liverpool maintained their 8-point lead with one of those “champions-grind-out-results” wins against Brighton. It’s going to be their year, isn’t it?
Southampton, meanwhile, saw to Quique Sanchez Flores’ short-lived return to Watford.
2
Watford have now sacked two permanent managers during the 2019-20 season (Javi Gracia, Sanchez Flores), making this the earliest a side has seen two permanent managers leave after the start of a PL season, overtaking Southampton in 2004-05 (who’d sacked Paul Sturrock and Steve Wigley by Dec the 8th).
6
Arsenal are without a win in their last six PL games (D4 L2); this is their longest such streak within a single season since December 1994 under George Graham. They are also now tied for the club’s worst 14-game start in PL history (1994-95, finished 12th).
18
Manchester United have won just 18 points in the Premier League this season; their fewest after 14 games of a top-flight campaign since 1988-89 (finished 11th).
31
Liverpool have equalled their longest ever unbeaten run in the top-flight (31 – between May 1987 and March 1988).
33y 312d
The story of the weekend. Aged 33 years and 312 days, West Ham’s David Martin was the second oldest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet on his Premier League debut, behind only Bernard Lama (34y 329d), who also did so for West Ham in March 1998.
10
Vivianne Miedema was directly involved in 10 of Arsenal Women’s 11 goals v Bristol City in the WSL (6 goals, 4 assists). TEN.
LA Liga
Real Madrid won by a goal. Barcelona won by a goal. The old guard remain perched atop the table. Sevilla, their closest contenders, are within a point of the duo, but have played an extra game.
16
A stat not many would see coming. Diego Simeone is winless in his Liga career (as manager) against Barcelona (GP16 D6 L10).
6
Jan Oblak has failed to keep a clean sheet in any of his last six games for Atlético de Madrid in all competitions (seven goals conceded) – his longest ever run without one for the club.
BUNDESLIGA
Is there a more unpredictable league in Europe this season? 10-man Dortmund managed to hold on for a 2-1 win at Hertha. Shortly after that one, 10-man Bayer Leverkusen managed to hold to a 2-1 win at Bayern Munich..
1
That loss saw a superb streak come to an end. This is the first time Bayern have lost a game in which Thomas Müller has scored. (before 82 wins, 5 draws).
1356
A bittersweet match, then for Muller. The German’s goal was his first 1356 league minutes, ending his longest ever goal drought in the competition.
2
Werder Bremen’s win marked Claudio Pizarro‘s 100th win with them. The Peruvian has won 145 times with Bayern Munich, making him only the second player after Eike Immel (118 wins for Stuttgart and 100 with Dortmund).
Serie A
Juve drew, Napoli lost, while AC Milan and Roma both registered wins. Inter Milan, meanwhile, capitalized on Juventus’ slip-up and 2-1 win against SPAL sees them clamber over Juve onto the top of the table.
1
How quickly does Antonio Conte imprint his style on a team he takes over? Inter have won 12 of their first 14 games played in a single Serie A campaign for the first time in their history, in the 88th season in the competition.
9
This is the first time since December 2010, that a team managed by Carlo Ancelotti hasn’t won for six consecutive games. This is also the fewest Ancelotti has won (5) through 14 matchdays since 2007-08, when he won 4 with Milan.
MESSI-RONALDO WATCH
Both of them scored this weekend. Of course, they did!
Lionel Messi‘s game-winner at the Wanda Metropolitano was his 30th career goal vs Atlético Madrid, his 2nd most vs any opp. (Sevilla 37). He now has nine goals in the league, one behind… Karim Benzema.
Cristiano Ronaldo‘s penalty saw Juve come back to draw 2-2 against Sassuolo. His goal ensured that Juventus maintained their status as the lone unbeaten among all clubs from the top 5 European leagues (15 wins, 4 draws, 0 losses).