6 Surprising Premier League Stats – Lucky 13 for Liverpool

Dan Fitch goes diving for pearls of statistical wisdom ahead of the weekend Premier League fixtures.

Check out his six surprising stats below.

1. Southampton v Manchester United

Home advantage is meant to count for something, right? Normally that’s the case, but when it comes to matches between Southampton and Manchester United, the hosts often find themselves to be curiously ill at ease in familiar surroundings.

For the home side has only won three times in the last 15 occasions that Southampton and Manchester United have played each other. The Saints might consider occupying the away dressing room for Saturday’s match at St Mary’s.

2. Crystal Palace v Aston Villa

Crystal Palace’s 2-1 victory at Manchester United last weekend came as a big shock, but stats show that it really shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise.

The win was Palace’s tenth in the Premier League in 2019, a record only bettered by three other sides – Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal. Will it be win number eleven at the weekend when the Eagles take on promoted Aston Villa?

3. Leicester v Bournemouth

There have been many beneficiaries since Brendan Rodgers became manager of Leicester. Local portrait painters and teeth whitening services have banked record profits following the appointment of the former Liverpool and Celtic coach.

Yet no one has benefitted more than Jamie Vardy. The former England striker scored his first goal of the season last weekend when he netted against Sheffield United. It was his tenth goal since Rodgers moved to the club in March and in that timespan, no other Premier League player has scored more often.

4. Newcastle v Watford

Watford are not the most patient club with managers and are quite probably getting Javi Gracia’s P45 form ready, in anticipation of another poor result.

The Hornets have now lost their last six Premier League matches. You have to go way back to 1973 for the last time they lost seven in a row and were they to taste defeat at Newcastle, it will surely be time to say thank you and goodbye to Gracia.

5. Burnley v Liverpool

While Watford are on a losing streak, Liverpool are on a winning one. The Reds have won twelve league games in a row, which is their best run since 1990 when they last won a league title.

No Liverpool team has ever won 13 straight games. Standing between Jurgen Klopp’s side and immortality are notorious party poopers Burnley. If Liverpool can win there will officially be 13 reasons why they can finally lift the Premier League.

6. Arsenal v Tottenham

It’s the North London derby on Sunday and it’s a fixture that Harry Kane absolutely loves. The Spurs striker has scored nine goals against Arsenal and if he can find the net at the Emirates he will join Emmanuel Adebayor and Bobby Smith as the all-time top scorer in the derby with ten strikes.

Only Robbie Fowler (ten) and Wayne Rooney (twelve) have ever scored more Premier League goals against the Gunners than Kane. It’s worth pointing out though that Fowler and Rooney were generally up against better Arsenal defenders than the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, so Kane will need to reach at least 20 goals in this fixture before he really impresses us.