Prolific Walcott, City equal 102-year record

Mesut Ozil: Hopes Arsenal avoid injuries to key personnel

Mesut Ozil: Hopes Arsenal avoid injuries to key personnel

The prolific goalscoring run of Arsenal’s Theo Walcott and Manchester City’s equalling of a 102-year-old record feature in our look at Saturday’s Premier League Opta Stats.

Arsenal v Stoke City

Theo Walcott: Earns Arsenal victory

Theo Walcott scored for a ninth successive Premier League season.

Walcott has scored 11 goals in his last 11 starts in the Premier League

Theo Walcott has scored four of Arsenal’s last five Premier League goals in first half of Premier League games.

Olivier Giroud scored only his second goal in his last 12 Premier League appearances.

Arsenal conceded only six fouls in this game – no side have made fewer in the PL this season (40).

Arsenal mustered 29 shots (inc. blocked) in this match, more than any other team in any other Premier League game this season.

23 of those 29 shots for Arsenal came from inside the penalty area.

Mesut Ozil has created 76 goalscoring chances in the Premier League in 2015, more than any other player.

Stoke’s total of two points from five games is their worst ever start in the Premier League.

 

Crystal Palace v Manchester City

Sergio Aguero: Goes down under a Scott Dann challenge

Sergio Aguero was substituted for the 63rd time in the Premier League.

City have kept six successive clean sheets in league competition for the first time.

This game ended a run of seven consecutive Premier League wins by 2+ goals for Man City.

Manchester City are now already 11 points clear of Chelsea in the table.

Kelechi Iheanacho is the 125th player to score for Manchester City in the Premier League.

Iheanacho (18y 344d) is the third youngest player to score for City in the PL after Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge.

Man City have won their opening five games of a top-flight season for only the second time (after 1912-13).

City have now won 11 consecutive Premier League games. Only Arsenal (14) and Man Utd (12) have ever had longer winning streaks in the division.

Man City are only the fourth team to open an English top-flight season with 5 clean sheets (along with Man Utd 97-98, Chelsea 05-06 & Portsmouth 06-07).

 

Norwich City v Bournemouth

Cameron Jerome Norwich v Bournemouth TEAMtalk

Excluding play-off matches, Cameron Jerome’s goal was his first in 12 league appearances for Norwich City.

Wes Hoolahan has been involved in five of Norwich’s eight Premier League goals so far this season (four assists, one goal).

Matthew Jarvis scored first Premier League goal since April 2014; ending run of 18 games in the competition without scoring.

Norwich won their first home league game against Bournemouth since 1951; ending a nine-match winless streak (L5 D4).

Norwich have lost just one of their last six league meetings with Bournemouth (W2 D3).

Alex Neil was 34y 94d and Eddie Howe 37yrs 286d for this game, the youngest combined managerial age (26314 days) in a PL game since Gareth Southgate (36y 62d) met Aidy Boothroyd (35y 269d) for Middlesbrough v Watford in November 2006 (26264 days).

 

Watford v Swansea City

Ikechi Anya (right): Tussles with Swansea City's Neil Taylor

Odion Ighalo has scored 18 goals in 23 league appearances in 2015 – more than any other player in the top four tiers this year.

Iglaho’s goal was the 100th Premier League goal scored at Vicarage Road – 3044 days after the 99th.

Valon Behrami’s red card was his first in 63 Premier League appearances.

The Hornets’ secured their first Premier League win at Vicarage Road since April 2007 (4-2 v Portsmouth).

Watford attempted six shots on target in this game; more than in any of their previous four PL games this season and this comes after two successive games without having one.

The Swans have kept only one clean sheet in their last seven top-tier games on the road.

This was only the third time in his last 11 Premier League appearances that Bafétimbi Gomis had failed to find the net.

 

West Bromwich Albion v Southampton

Salomon Rondon Virgil van Dijk West Brom v Southampton

Southampton have kept three clean sheets in a row in the Premier League for the first time since November 2014.

West Brom have enjoyed just one win in their last five top-tier meetings with Southampton (D2 L2).

Southampton completed 522 passes in this game; the most that they have had in a Premier League away game since their return to the league in 2012-13.

The Baggies have kept a clean sheet in over half of their 23 Premier League games under Tony Pulis (13 – 57%).

No side have kept more clean sheets in the Premier League since Pulis’ first game in charge of the Baggies in January 2015 (13).

Southampton have won just two of their last 11 Premier League games (D4 L5).

Saints have now failed to score in four of their last six PL games.

 

Everton v Chelsea

Steven Naismith: Scores Everton's opener against Chelsea

Steven Naismith has now scored six Premier League goals against Chelsea; four more than against any other side.

Naismith has scored in three different Premier League games against a Jose Mourinho Chelsea side – more often than any other player.

Naismith was the sixth player to score a hat-trick after coming on as a sub in a Premier League game and the first since Lukaku (5-5 v Man Utd) in May 2013.

He also became only the fifth player to score a Premier League hat-trick against Chelsea and the first since Robin van Persie in October 2011.

Cesc Fabregas hasn’t scored or assisted in any of his last six PL apps – his longest run in the competition without a goal involvement since a nine game run in Jan-Apr 2007.

This is the first time that Jose Mourinho has lost two successive Premier League since May 2006.

In their last seven Premier League games, Chelsea have conceded 16 goals – one more than they conceded in the whole of Mourinho’s first PL season in charge of the Blues in 2004-05 (15).

The last time that Chelsea had a worse start to a top-flight season was in 1986-87 (three points – P5 W0 D3 L2). They finished that season in 14th position.

Chelsea have already equalled their tally of defeats from the whole of 2014-15 (3) in after five games of 2015-16.

Chelsea have lost four of their last seven Premier League games – they had only lost four of their previous 44 PL games before this run.