In a break with tradition, today’s blog post is a selection of the seven tastiest Nuggets from MW14 as there was a full round of midweek action to delve into. Plus a gentle reminder that you still have time to buy this year’s ‘must have’ Christmas gift for all football fans: the revised edition of Premier League Nuggets from all good bookshops and the usual online channels.
- Newcastle’s draw with Norwich on Tuesday stretched their winless run to fourteen games from the start of the season. This equals their worst run in Premier League history, which was set between May and November 2011. The Magpies are now four games away from breaking Sheffield United’s record of 17 from last season. When the Blades finally won a game in MW17 it was a 1-0 defeat of none other than Newcastle.
- Liverpool’s 4-1 win at Goodison Park means the Reds have now scored 25 goals away from home in their seven PL matches, averaging 3.5 goals per game. Additionally, including the last three away matches of 2020/21 season, they have scored at least two goals in their last ten away PL games, scoring 34 and conceding 10.
- Everton’s loss to Liverpool means that they become the first club in Premier League history to reach 400 losses; next are West Ham on 398. The Toffees’ current run of eight winless matches is still some way off their worst in the Premier League which is twelve set between August and October 1994 under Mike Walker when they lost eight and drew four of their opening dozen fixtures. After that dismal run, Walker was replaced by Joe Royle who then immediately oversaw their first victory that season.
- After last season’s dramatic swing to away wins (exacerbated by the absence of fans) when for the first time in 122 years of all four divisions of English league football, away victories outnumbered home the pendulum has returned to the norm. After 139 games this season, there have been 55 home wins and 45 away wins, by contrast at this stage last season there had been three more away wins, which stretched to nine by the end of that extraordinary season.
- Manchester United’s 3-2 win was their twelfth consecutive PL match at Old Trafford in which they have failed to keep a clean sheet, including the last five home games of last season, going all the way back to March when they beat West Ham 1-0.
- In their goalless draw with Wolves, Burnley secured their 300th point in the Premier League in their 279th match, having scored 280 goals. The Clarets also extended their record of successive games without a red card to 107.
- There were only three away wins in MW14 and they were all by the top three – Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool. The top three have an aggregate goal difference of +79 and only one other side, West Ham, have a positive GD in the division.
The Football Mine 