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Premier League Wednesday action - what the stats say
Arsenal – Aston Villa
Arsenal have won eight of their last 11 Premier League games against Aston Villa (L3), including both meetings last term. Those three defeats all came consecutively between July 2020 and February 2021.
Each of the last 10 league games between Arsenal and Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium have produced at least three goals. In Premier League history, only one specific fixture has produced 3+ goals on 11 consecutive occasions – Manchester City hosting Newcastle between September 2007 and July 2020.
Arsenal have lost just one of their last eight Premier League games on Wednesdays (W6 D1), going down 2-0 at home to Liverpool in March. However, overall in the Premier League the Gunners have won 48 per cent of their games played on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (93/194).
Aston Villa have won just one of their last 10 Premier League games on a Wednesday (D3 L6), winning 2-1 at Spurs in May 2021.
Aston Villa have lost their last three away Premier League matches, last losing four in a row in league football between April and August 2017 in the Championship under Steve Bruce.
Arsenal are the only Premier League side still with a 100 per cent record this season, winning their opening four games. The Gunners have only started three previous top-flight seasons with a run of five wins, doing so in 1930-31 (finished 1st), 1947-48 (finished 1st) and 2004-05 (finished 2nd).
Arsenal have won their last five home Premier League matches, last enjoying a longer winning run at the Emirates between November 2018 and April 2019 (10 in a row). The Gunners are looking to win their first three home league matches in a season for the first time since 2017-18.
As a player, Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard won just one of his 12 away Premier League matches against Arsenal (D5 L6), with that coming in February 2000 with Liverpool. He played more matches at the Emirates without winning than any other ground in his Premier League playing career (six – D3 L3).
Bukayo Saka - who turns 21 on September 5th – has registered 16 Premier League assists so far for Arsenal. Only three players have more Premier League assists before their 21st birthday: Cesc Fàbregas (38), Wayne Rooney (22) and Michael Owen (18).
Bournemouth – Wolverhampton Wanderers
Bournemouth have lost just one of their five home league games against Wolves (W2 D2), though it was their last such meeting in November 2019 (1-2).
Wolves are unbeaten in all four of their Premier League meetings with Bournemouth (W3 D1), last losing against the Cherries in the 2014-15 Championship campaign.
Wolves have lost just three of their last 22 Premier League games against promoted sides (W13 D6), with two of those three defeats coming in home games.
Bournemouth have shipped 16 Premier League goals in their first four games this season, the most by a side at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 1963-64 (Arsenal, 16). Only two sides in top-flight history have conceded more than 16 goals in the month of August in a campaign: Sunderland in 1953 (17) and Newcastle in 1999 (18).
Wolves have won just one of their last seven Premier League games on a Wednesday (D3 L3), though that win did come on the south coast, beating Brighton 2-1 in December 2021.
Bournemouth suffered a 3-0 defeat in their last home Premier League match against Arsenal; the Cherries have never lost consecutive home league games under Scott Parker, last doing so in their final two home games in 2020-21 under Jonathan Woodgate.
Wolves have picked up only one point in their last six away Premier League matches (D1 L5), losing their last three in a row. They last had a longer losing run on the road in the top-flight between September and December 2011 (six in a row).
Wolves haven’t lost their first three away league matches in a season since 2003-04 in the Premier League, going on to finish bottom. Indeed, they have been relegated in the last three campaigns when they’ve started with three away defeats (also 1983-84 and 1985-86).
Wolves’ Raúl Jiménez has scored in all four of his Premier League appearances against Bournemouth – no player has a better 100 per cent scoring ratio against an opponent in the competition.
In Premier League history, among managers to take charge of at least 10 home games, only Daniel Farke (0.67) has a lower points-per-game than Bournemouth’s Scott Parker (0.70), who has won five, drawn four and lost 18 of his 27 home games in charge of Fulham and the Cherries.
Manchester City – Nottingham Forest
This is the first meeting in any competition between Man City and Nottingham Forest since January 2009, with Forest winning an FA Cup tie 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
Man City are unbeaten in their last four league games against Nottingham Forest (W3 D1), with this their first such meeting since a 3-0 win in March 2002, courtesy of a Darren Huckerby hat-trick.
Man City have won just one of their six Premier League meetings with Nottingham Forest (D3 L2), though this is the first such meeting since December 1995. In fact, the last time Nottingham Forest were in the Premier League in 1998-99, Manchester City were in the third tier of English football.
Nottingham Forest have lost their last six Premier League games against the reigning champions by an aggregate score of 23-3. Their last such win was in December 1994 at Manchester United, with that 2-1 victory Man Utd’s only home league defeat that season, accounting for 50 per cent of the goals they conceded at Old Trafford that term.
Manchester City have won their last 20 Premier League games on a Wednesday – victory here would equal the competition’s record for most consecutive wins on a specific day of the week, currently held by Liverpool with 21 straight Saturday victories between November 2018 and February 2020.
Nottingham Forest haven’t conceded more than twice in any of their last 73 away league matches, since a 3-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in April 2019. In the entire history of the Football League, only Plymouth Argyle between February 2015 and May 2018 have had a longer run without conceding three goals in an away league game (77 in a row).
Manchester City have found themselves two goals behind in four of their last six Premier League games, as many as in their previous 84 combined. They are the only side in Premier League history to avoid defeat in four games in a row in which they found themselves 2+ goals behind.
Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in 20 goals in his last 20 Premier League appearances against promoted sides, scoring seven and assisting 13. At the Etihad, the Belgian has been involved in 18 goals in 16 such games overall (7 goals, 11 assists).
Erling Haaland has scored six goals in his first four Premier League appearances for Manchester City, with only Diego Costa (7) netting more after four matches in the competition. The record for goals in a player’s first five games is held jointly by Mick Quinn and Sergio Agüero (8).
Brennan Johnson has been involved in seven goals in his last nine away matches in all competitions for Nottingham Forest (5 goals, 2 assists), scoring at Everton in their last away Premier League game. The only player aged 21 to score in consecutive away Premier League appearances for Forest is Roy Keane in December 1992.
West Ham United – Tottenham Hotspur
31 August 2022
West Ham have won their last two Premier League home games against Tottenham, last winning more consecutively between February 1997 and August 1999 (4).
Tottenham have won 25 of their 52 Premier League games against West Ham, only beating Everton (28) and Manchester City (27) more often in the competition.
West Ham were one of only two sides to score in all 19 of their home Premier League games last season, along with Liverpool, but haven’t scored in their opening two home games this season. They have never failed to score in their opening three home league games in a season before, last failing in three consecutive home Premier League games in general in December 2008 at Upton Park.
Tottenham have won 99 Premier League London derby matches and could be the third side to reach 100 victories after Chelsea and Arsenal. Meanwhile, West Ham (112) have lost more such matches than any other side.
West Ham have lost just one of their last seven Premier League matches played on Wednesday (W3 D3), going down 2-0 at Arsenal last December. They had lost six of their previous eight such Wednesday matches before this (W2).
West Ham United have lost their last two home Premier League games, last losing three in a row in their final four at the London Stadium under Manuel Pellegrini in November/December 2019. The Hammers have never lost their opening three home league games in a season.
Only Carlton Cole (14) and Manuel Lanzini (13) have scored more Premier League goals for West Ham in Premier League London derbies than Michail Antonio (12) – half of these have come in 11 appearances against Tottenham, including netting once in each of his last three against them at the London Stadium.
Tottenham striker Harry Kane has been involved in seven goals in his last six Premier League games against West Ham, scoring four and assisting three. Overall, he’s netted 11 goals against them in the competition, with only Wayne Rooney (14) and Michael Owen (13) scoring more against the Hammers.
Tottenham’s Son Heung-min has been involved in eight goals in his last eight Premier League games against West Ham (5 goals, 3 assists), though just two of these have come at West Ham’s ground (1 goal, 1 assist in November 2019).
Tottenham striker Harry Kane has scored nine goals in 26 Premier League games played on Wednesdays. Having already scored 10+ on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, he could become just the second player to reach double figures on five different days of the week, after Alan Shearer.
Liverpool – Newcastle United
31 August 2022
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 26 Premier League home games against Newcastle (W21 D5), since a 2-0 loss in April 1994. The Reds have scored in all 26 of these games.
Newcastle are winless in 11 Premier League games against Liverpool (D4 L7), since a 2-0 home win in December 2015 under Steve McClaren.
Liverpool have scored more Premier League goals against Newcastle (109) than they have against any other opponent. Meanwhile, only against Manchester United (113) have Newcastle conceded more goals in the competition than they have against Liverpool.
Liverpool have won 10 of their last 11 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League games, winning each of the last six by an aggregate score of 18-2 since a 1-0 loss at Leicester in December 2021.
Newcastle have won their last two Premier League games on a Wednesday, having won just one of their previous 24 such matches (D5 L18).
After scoring just four goals in their first three Premier League games this season, Liverpool won 9-0 last time out against Bournemouth, equalling their biggest ever top-flight win (also 9-0 v Crystal Palace in 1989). They also scored five times in the first half of a top-flight game for the first time since 1927 against Portsmouth.
Mohamed Salah has scored in all five of his Premier League home games for Liverpool against Newcastle. The only player with a better 100 per cent home scoring record for a club against an opponent is former Man City striker Sergio Agüero, who scored in all seven of his games at the Etihad against Liverpool.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has lost his last eight Premier League matches against Liverpool since a 2-2 draw at Anfield with Bournemouth in April 2017. Only Gary Megson, between 1995 and 2009, has ever lost nine consecutive Premier League matches against Liverpool as a manager.
Roberto Firmino was involved in five goals in Liverpool’s 9-0 win over Bournemouth (2 goals, 3 assists), one more than in his previous 16 Premier League games combined (1 goal, 3 assists). Firmino is one of only five players to have assisted three goals in two different Premier League games (also v Southampton in 2020), along with Eyal Berkovic, Thierry Henry, Cesc Fàbregas and Dusan Tadic.
Since his first Premier League appearance at Anfield in February, no Liverpool player has more home Premier League goals than Luis Díaz (6 in 10 games). In Premier League history, only Fernando Torres (9) has scored more Premier League goals in his first 10 home appearances for the Reds.
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