After the latest weekend of 2024-25 action, our UK data insights team at OptaJoe has unearthed all sorts of facts. Here, we look at the best Premier League stats from Matchday 7.
Arne Slot is the first Liverpool manager to win as many as nine of his first 10 games in charge of the club (L1).
Liverpool enjoyed a 1-0 away win in the Premier League on Saturday lunchtime thanks to Diogo Jota’s ninth-minute strike versus Crystal Palace.
That victory means Liverpool have won each of their first four away league games to begin a season for only the third time after 1990-91 and 2019-20. It also saw head coach Arne Slot secure more competitive wins across his first 10 games in charge (9) than any Liverpool boss before him.
Slot has overseen nine wins in total, with six of those coming in the league as the Reds lead the Premier League table going into the October international break. That tally surpasses the efforts of both William Connell and William Edward Barclay (both 8), while it’s three more wins than previous boss Jürgen Klopp secured in his first 10 games.
Slot’s only defeat has come to Nottingham Forest, going down 1-0 in a shock loss at Anfield on 14 September.
The remainder of October promises to be trickier for the Dutchman, however. They face Chelsea at home in the Premier League on 20 October, followed by away trips to RB Leipzig (Champions League) and Arsenal (Premier League) before a League Cup away tie at Brighton & Hove Albion to end the month.
Arsenal have never lost a home Premier League game against Southampton (P25 W17 D8), which is the most one side has faced another on home soil in the competition without ever losing.
Arsenal came from behind to defeat Southampton at the Emirates Stadium this weekend, with second-half goals from Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka keeping up their unbeaten Premier League home record against their opponents.
That result means the Gunners have still never lost at home to Southampton in the Premier League and increased their run to 25 games, winning 17 and drawing eight of those. That’s more games at home against an opponent without losing than any other team has managed in the history of the competition.
Most Premier League Home Games Versus Opponents Without Losing
Arsenal vs Southampton – 25 games
Chelsea vs Fulham – 17 games
Arsenal vs Fulham – 17 games
Arsenal vs Sunderland – 16 games
Liverpool vs Sunderland – 16 games
On the flip side of this record, Burnley hold the Premier League record for the most home games played against an opponent without ever winning one. They have played both Chelsea and Arsenal nine times at Turf Moor in the competition without securing a win. They have won just one point in the nine games versus Chelsea (W0 D1 L8), while their record versus Arsenal at home is only slightly better (W0 D3 L6).
Of course, Southampton’s defeat on Saturday means they have now gone 20 successive games without a win in the top-flight, which is among the longest winless runs in Premier League history. It has also equalled their club record in the top flight – a run of 20 games between August and December 1969.
Back to impressive home performances against specific sides, Arsenal also hold the Premier League record for the most home games played against a single opponent while maintaining a 100% record. They have played, and defeated, Stoke City in 10 different home matches in the competition, which is two games more than Manchester United have managed at home against Wigan Athletic (8 games, 8 wins).
Kyle Walker made his 400th Premier League appearance against Fulham (202 with Man City, 183 with Tottenham and 15 with Aston Villa), with it being his 257th win, the joint-most by any player after 400 games along with Petr Cech.
Manchester City beat Fulham on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium to extend their unbeaten home record to 50 games in all competitions, with Kyle Walker coming on as a substitute just after the hour-mark.
By entering the field in the 62nd minute, Walker reached 400 Premier League appearances this weekend, and none of the other 44 players in the history of the competition to reach that landmark have won more games at this stage of their Premier League careers.
But how does this win rate compare to other Premier League players to have played fewer games? It seems fair to judge a player and their success after 100 appearances in the competition, so that’s where we begin.
Of every player to have made at least 100 appearances in the Premier League, only one has a win ratio of over 80%, and that is former Man City central defender Aymeric Laporte (81.0%).
Of players to have played over 200 appearances, it’s current City stars Bernardo Silva (75.8%) and goalkeeper Ederson (75.5%) that have enjoyed the highest proportion of victories, with Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus just behind them (74.2%).
Looking at players with over 300 games in the Premier League, Walker’s 64.3% win ratio means he is level with Paul Scholes and just behind Ryan Giggs (64.4%), but it’s former teammate David Silva (69.3%) who leads the way.
Spare a thought for former Norwich City, Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion midfielder Andy Johnson, who won just 12 of his 101 Premier League matches across his career, with his 11.9% win ratio the lowest of any player to make at least 100 Premier League appearances.
Manchester United have scored just five goals in their opening seven Premier League games of 2024-25 – only in 1972-73 (4) have they ever netted fewer through their first seven games of a top-flight campaign.
Manchester United’s struggles in front of goal continued on Sunday, as they failed to score once again in a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa. That’s already the fourth game that the Red Devils have failed to score in this season, and we’re only seven matchdays into 2024-25.
When United won their last Premier League title in 2012-13 – Alex Ferguson’s last season in charge – they failed to score in just three games that whole season (over 38 games).
Their tally of five goals in 2024-25 is their lowest in any Premier League season after seven games, and going back to pre-Premier League, the only season that they have scored fewer was in 1972-73 (4).
They have attempted 89 shots worth 11.1 expected goals (xG) so far this season, but only scored five times from those attempts. That makes their underperformance of xG the highest of all Premier League clubs so far this season (-6.1), while their shot conversion rate of 5.6% is better than only Crystal Palace (5.4%) and Southampton (5.3%).
Sunday’s 0-0 draw also means United have failed to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under Erik ten Hag (also a run of three in both December 2023 and April 2023).
The worst culprit so far in 2024-25 is arguably Bruno Fernandes, who has attempted more shots without scoring than any other Premier League player (18).
Sunday’s defeat to Brighton was the 10th time that Tottenham have lost a Premier League game in which they led by 2+ goals, the first club to hit double figures for this statistic.
At half-time of Sunday’s Premier League game at the Amex Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur were cruising. Two-nil up and playing some fantastic football, it felt like Spurs could be on their way to a heavy away-day victory. Then the second half happened.
Brighton scored three goals in the space of 18 minutes to completely turn the game on its head and send Spurs back to London without even a point.
Based on Premier League history, we shouldn’t be too surprised that this happened to Tottenham, of all teams. The Lilywhites have now lost 10 matches in which they have led by at least two goals in the Premier League, three more than any other side.
It was the second time Ange Postecoglou has suffered a Premier League loss from two goals ahead, with the 4-2 defeat to Manchester City in January 2023 being the previous occasion.
Losing points from winning positions has been a slight issue for the Australian boss since he arrived at Spurs, however. It’s now 25 dropped from leading positions since the start of last season, which is the same tally as Everton and more than every other team to finish in the top eight of the table last season – Aston Villa (9), Liverpool (10), Arsenal (13), Man City (14), Man Utd, Newcastle and Chelsea (all 17).
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