The Premier League is approaching a landmark age: on August 15, the competition will be 30 years old, with that date ultimately ushering in a golden era for English football.
Although we may be 10 days away from that particular milestone, Friday sees the latest edition of the Premier League kick off with Crystal Palace and Arsenal contesting the opening game of the 2022-23 campaign at Selhurst Park.
As such, it only seems right to jump the gun a little and look back on the first 30 years of what many believe has become the greatest league in world football.
So, buckle up as Stats Perform takes you on a trip down memory lane…
Managing expectations
This is classic 'pub quiz' territory: which manager has presided over the most Premier League games?
You know it's either Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger, don't you? You probably end up going for the Manchester United icon because of his sheer longevity.
Alas, you'd be wrong.
Wenger took charge of 18 more Premier League games (828) than 'Fergie' before he brought his long Arsenal career to a close.
Nevertheless, Ferguson's 13 titles look unlikely to ever be matched. His closest rival in that respect is Pep Guardiola (four), with Wenger joined on three by Jose Mourinho.
Play on, player
Over the first 30 seasons of the Premier League, 4,488 players have appeared in the competition at an average of 149.6 debutants per campaign.
If we ignore the inaugural season for obvious reasons, the campaign with the most debutants was 2015-16 when 162 players made their Premier League bows.
Of the nearly 4,500 individuals to feature in the competition, Gareth Barry sits clear with the most appearances (653), the last of which came during the 2017-18 season with West Brom.
It's a record that will take some beating, but if anyone's got a chance of toppling him, it's his former Manchester City team-mate James Milner.
The 36-year-old, now of Liverpool, is fourth on the all-time list with 588 outings.
Forever young
Everyone loves a 'wonderkid'. The Premier League has seen more than its fair share over the years, and some got started very, very young.
Mark Platts was the first 16-year-old to ever play in the Premier League when he made his Sheffield Wednesday debut in February 1996.
When Matthew Briggs came along 11 years later and featured for Fulham at 16 years and 68 days old, you'd have been forgiven for thinking his record would stand the test of time.
It lasted 12 years until another Fulham player shaved 38 days off Briggs' record – that player was Harvey Elliott. Now at Liverpool, the young midfielder looks set for a glittering career.
The name of the game
Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Wayne Rooney – when you think of Premier League goalscorers, these are probably the names that immediately spring to mind.
Well, you're wrong. You should be thinking about Andrew Johnson, Glen Johnson, Tommy Johnson, Bradley Johnson, Roger Johnson et al.
Why? Because there are more players with the surname Johnson to have scored in the Premier League than any other surname.
There have been 21 of them to be exact, two more than the Williams clan.
Synonymous.
Get to the points
It's been a frustrating few (nine?) years for Man United fans, but don't worry, folks, if you just look at the big (massive) picture, it'll definitely all feel much better.
United still sit top of the overall Premier League table with 2,366 points, giving them a healthy 225-point cushion over second-placed Arsenal.
Manchester City may have won four of the past five league titles, a feat only United had achieved before them in the Premier League, but the real story is that they're way back on 1,629 Premier League points.
Yo-yo with the flow
To be fair, almost every single one of you knows what's coming here.
You guessed it, Norwich City's relegation from the last season makes them the yo-yoingest (yes, we've just made that up) club in Premier League history.
That was their sixth relegation to go with their five promotions to the top flight since 1992, taking them one clear of West Brom, who have the same number of ascensions but only five demotions to their name.
I love goals, goals, goals, goals
Of course, Shearer remains the Premier's League all-time leading scorer with 260, 52 more than Wayne Rooney in second.
But Harry Kane looks to be in with a chance of usurping both England greats – in fact, another solid season could take him beyond 200 as he begins the 2022-23 campaign on 183.
Kane also appears among the very best goalscoring combinations in the competition's history as he and Son Heung-min have linked up for 41 goals – that's five more than Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard as the next-best.
As for high-scoring matches, there have been three Premier League games that have finished with a nine-goal margin – two were achieved by Man United (9-0 v Southampton in February 2021, and v Ipswich Town in March 1995) and Leicester City managed it in October 2019, also crushing Saints 9-0.
Do call it a comeback
Your team's trailing 2-0, you're despondent and bereft of hope. But then, out of nowhere, you've got a goal back. Then the equaliser. And then, just when you'd convinced yourself "this draw feels like a win", a third goes in, and it's pandemonium.
There are few more satisfying situations in football than when you team produces such a turnaround – the despair you were feeling earlier only makes your full-time jubilation that bit more intense.
The biggest such turnarounds that led to wins all involved teams coming back from three goals down. Leeds United, Wimbledon and Wolves have all managed it in 4-3 victories, while Man United beat Spurs 5-3 from 3-0 down.
No team have done so since Wolves in October 2003, although Newcastle United certainly deserve a special mention – they are the only team to find themselves 4-0 down and avoid defeat. Their 4-4 draw with Arsenal in February 2011 remains a Premier League classic.
Stop the clock!
Here's another for the pub quiz enthusiasts: who scored the quickest goal in Premier League history?
Netting just 7.69 seconds into an April 2019 game between Southampton and Watford, Shane Long opened the scoring to break a 19-year record that had been set by Spurs defender Ledley King.
To put that into context, it'd take you longer to read that sentence. It was also quicker than Usain Bolt's world-record time in the 100 metres (9.58 seconds).
The latest goal ever is maybe a less notable record, but it nonetheless belongs to Bruno Fernandes, who in September 2020 scored a penalty after 99 minutes and 45 seconds to seal United a dramatic 3-2 win over Brighton and Hove Albion – yes, that's the game when the Seagulls hit the woodwork a record five times.
As for the quickest hat-trick, that was scored by Sadio Mane for Southampton against Aston Villa in May 2015, with his first and third goals separated by just two minutes and 56 seconds.
Koeman after 'as many goals as possible' against Gibraltar after heavy France loss
Ronald Koeman is targeting "as many goals as possible" in Monday's Euro 2024 qualifier against minnows Gibraltar to get his side's heavy loss to France out of their system.
The Netherlands were thumped 4-0 by Les Bleus on Friday in their opening Group B match and the first game of Koeman's second spell in charge of the national side.
Oranje have a quick turnaround in games as they welcome Gibraltar – ranked 200th in the world – to De Kuip three days after such a crushing loss, and Koeman is hoping for a big victory.
"From the first minute until the 97th we must do everything to score as many goals as possible," he said at Sunday's pre-match press conference. "We have to keep going.
"We know Gibraltar will defend with a lot of men, but hopefully we can get a quick goal. Our attacking line-up will be very important."
Koeman opted for a 4-3-3 formation against France and, while not ruling out a switch to 5-3-2 against certain sides, he has faith in the current system.
"The France game was a one-off," he said. "I have no doubt for a second that we should have done things differently in the last game. It will get better; I am convinced of that.
"It will take time before we see what we want. This is what we have training sessions for."
The Netherlands' loss to France was only their second by a four-goal margin against any opponent in the past 60 years, the other also coming against Les Bleus in August 2017.
Defender Nathan Ake, who played a full part at the Stade de France, revealed he and his team-mates spoke openly about the defeat after the match.
"We discussed what needs to be improved," he said. "We had to reflect and you also have to speak plain language and just tell each other the truth.”
Koeman added: "This group is self-critical and a number of things were said. What we discussed mainly was our build-up play and the intensity of our play – it was too slow.
"That was the biggest disappointment, particularly as we worked on it in training."
Denmark suffer 'embarrassing' collapse to lose to Kazakhstan in Euros qualifying
Denmark threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Kazakhstan and suffer an early blow in Euro 2024 qualifying.
Kasper Hjulmand's side were semi-finalists at the last Euros and were handed a relatively kind draw for this qualifying campaign, beating Finland 3-1 in Thursday's opener.
Atalanta sensation Rasmus Hojlund scored a hat-trick in that game and then grabbed another two goals in the first half on Sunday, seemingly setting up another routine win.
But Baktiyor Zainutdinov pulled one back from the penalty spot with 17 minutes to play, and Kazakhstan were back level through captain Askhat Tagybergen's spectacular long-range strike four minutes from time.
That was not the end of the scoring as substitute Abat Aimbetov nodded the winner, although he was sent off in stoppage time.
Denmark will surely still back themselves to come through the group – particularly if Hojlund maintains his remarkable form – but this was an unexpected setback.
"I have to be careful what I say right now," captain Simon Kjaer told TV2.
"We run after instead of acting. We run after and not ahead with the ball. That's the difference in the second half, I think."
Asked why he needed to be careful, Kjaer said: "It is embarrassing. We win and lose together. Today we lose together. You cannot be 2-0 up and losing 2-3. You cannot. I don't know what it was.
"It was many things. It wasn't good enough. What exactly happened in the situations I'm a little unsure about, and I don't want to say things I'm not sure of.
"We must take responsibility for the criticism that will come. And then we must move on."
De Kock-inspired South Africa mount record T20I run chase after record-breaking Charles century
Quinton de Kock's sensational century propelled South Africa to a remarkable six-wicket victory over West Indies in a thrilling T20I after a record-breaking knock from Johnson Charles at Centurion.
Charles' astonishing 118 from 46 balls and an excellent 51 from Kyle Mayers got the Windies to what looked to be a series-winning total of 258-5 on Sunday.
Yet De Kock (100 off 44) had other ideas, with South Africa's former captain leading the Proteas to a sensational triumph and the highest successful run chase in T20Is.
By the end of the third over the hosts had scored 62 without loss, and they added an additional 20 runs from the next 18 deliveries. South Africa's total of 102-0 from the first six overs is the highest powerplay score in a T20I involving Test-playing nations, and the fastest first hundred runs scored in a T20I involving a full ICC member.
In the process, De Kock struck South Africa's quickest 50, from just 15 balls – the fifth-fastest half-century in the shortest format.
De Kock should have been caught in the deep shortly after, but did not let up as he cruised to his maiden T20I century, taking just 42 deliveries to get there, before falling to Raymon Reifer soon after.
Reeza Hendricks (68 from 28 balls) picked up the slack, though he followed Rilee Rossouw (16) in heading back to the pavilion when the Windies claimed wickets in swift succession in the 12th and 13th overs.
Romario Shepherd caught David Miller to hand West Indies a further flash of hope, yet three big hits from new captain Aiden Markram (38) put the Proteas back in control as they cantered to victory and levelled the series.
Charles' record ton overshadowed
If it was not for De Kock's sparkling knock, Charles would have been the story.
His century, which came from 39 deliveries and included 11 sixes and 10 fours, was the fastest T20I hundred by a West Indies player, surpassing a record set by Chris Gayle in 2016 (47 balls). Unfortunately for the tourists, it was not enough.
Bad day for the bowlers
It was certainly a day for the batters at SuperSport Park. South Africa's bowlers set the tone for what was to come as they struggled to keep the Windies under wraps, despite Wayne Parnell (2-42) dismissing Brandon King in the first over.
The Windies attack then suffered as De Kock, Hendricks and then Markram put them to the sword in a stunning display.
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