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A superb weekend of football has thrown up its usual treasure trove of stats and numbers. We crunch the lot to bring you the best.
Premier League
Chelsea beat Spurs 2-1, Manchester City eked out a 1-0 at Leicester City, Manchester United beat Watford 3-0 and Arsenal beat Everton in an absolute cracker that ended 3-2.
2
This is a quite amazing stat. Frank Lampard’s Chelsea are the first team to defeat a side managed by José Mourinho both home and away in a single league season.
10+
Nine players aged 22 or younger have scored 10+ league goals across Europe’s top five leagues. Two of them play for Everton, the only side to have more than one (Dominic Calvert-Lewin 12, Richarlison 10).
12
This is one for the proper stat-geek. Wolves’ Raúl Jiménez has scored more PL goals than any other player this season without ever netting the first goal in a match.
69
This, for most casual watchers of the game, will come as a surprise. Norwich’s Emi Buendía has created 69 chances in the PL this season, making him the fourth highest creator of chances among all players in Europe’s top five leagues behind Kevin De Bruyne (94), Dimitri Payet (78) and Ángel Di María (71).
In fact, the 29 chances Buendía created in the PL in December was the most from any player in a single calendar month in one of Europe’s top five leagues since April 2012. The one who did that? Andrea Pirlo in Serie A (34). Now, that’s some elite company.
La Liga
Real Madrid were stunned 1-0 by Levante, while Barcelona smacked five past Eibar, meaning the big two have swapped positions in the league table (Barcelona leading now) ahead of next Sunday’s Clasico.
6,151
It is not just on this season’s table that Real Madrid have been overtaken. After the five goals scored today, no team have scored more goals than Barcelona in La Liga ever (6,151). Real Madrid, in case you are wondering, are on 6,150.
Serie A
While Inter Milan’s match was postponed, the league’s top two continued their onward march though both matches were closer than they’d have liked. Juventus beat SPAL 2-1, Lazio got the better of Genoa in a thriller that ended 3-2.
10
Lazio have been the league’s entertainers-in-chief this season. They have scored at least three goals in 10 games this Serie A season. No team have more.
27
They have their main striker’s form to thank for that. Ciro Immobile has scored 27 goals already this Serie A season. With that, he has equalled the Serie A scoring record after 25 match days (Antonio Angelillo in 1958/59).
32
Juventus’ win at SPAL means that they have won at least once in each of the 32 stadiums they have played in the last nine Serie A campaigns (since 2011/12).
Bundesliga
9
He seems to create a record every time he steps onto the pitch. Erling Haaland is the first player in Bundesliga history to score nine goals in his first six league appearances.
10+
Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi are the only teammates across Europe’s top five leagues to reach 10+ league assists this season (Sancho has 14, Hakimi 10).
Messi-Ronaldo watch
Cristiano Ronaldo scored one, Lionel Messi scored four. These two, we tell you.
11
Only three players have scored at least a goal in 11 league appearances in a row in a single Serie A campaign:
–Gabriel Omar Batistuta in 1994/95
–Fabio Quagliarella in 2018/19
–Ronaldo, this season
4
Messi’s four-goal haul v Eibar (including a first half hat-trick) ended his longest goal drought in La Liga since 2013-14. He had gone four games without a goal.