EPL

Premier League data dive: Odegaard puts Gunners top with long-awaited double

By Sports Desk August 20, 2022

Arsenal went top of the Premier League with a 3-0 win at Bournemouth – and for the first time since 1972 they lead the way concurrently with Manchester United sitting bottom of the pile.

Gunners captain Martin Odegaard scored his first double in a top-flight league game since he was 15 years old and playing in his native Norway, while Arsenal's north London rivals stayed in close touch with the leaders after Harry Kane reached a Premier League goals record in a win over Wolves.

Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard watched his side slide to a 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace – a sixth loss in seven games in London for Villa since the start of last season – while Fulham were 3-2 winners in their derby against Brentford. That was a first home victory for the Cottagers in a Premier League London derby since January 2014, ending a 12-game wait.

Elsewhere, Southampton came from behind to take a 2-1 victory at struggling Leicester City, and Everton and Nottingham Forest duked out a 1-1 draw.

Stats Perform has rummaged through Opta's data trove to present numbers-led angles on the day's top Premier League action.

Tottenham 1-0 Wolves: Harry's game as Kane writes more Spurs history

It was up there with the easiest of finishes, but they all count and Harry Kane's close-range header was his 185th Premier League goal for Tottenham – thereby making him the highest scorer for a single club in the competition's history.

What's more, it was Kane's 250th goal in all games for the club, and Tottenham's 1,000th at home in the Premier League. Only Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea had previously totted up 1,000 goals at home since the league's 1992-93 launch.

Even if the performance left room for improvement, Tottenham are unbeaten in their opening three games. The same applied last season when they won three out of three under Nuno Espirito Santo. Five defeats in the next seven cost Nuno his job, and Spurs will hope to avoid any such slide now.

With Antonio Conte in charge, a Spurs collapse seems unlikely. This was head coach Conte's 70th win in the Premier League from 107 games, the bulk of which came across his two seasons at Chelsea. Among managers or head coaches with at least 70 Premier League wins, only Manchester City's Pep Guardiola (74 per cent) has a better win percentage than Conte's 65 per cent.

Bruno Lage's Wolves are without a win in their last 10 league games, spread across this season and last. They have only had one previous double-digit streak of winless Premier League games in their history – a 17-game sequence that spanned a relegation campaign in 2011-12 and the start of the 2018-19 season on their return to the top flight.

Bournemouth 0-3 Arsenal: From teenage kicks to picking off Cherries, Odegaard doubles up again

Odegaard was already grabbing the attention of Europe's elite clubs when he scored twice for Stromsgodset against Lillestrom in October 2014. Three months later, he would sign for Real Madrid.

Almost eight years down the line, he has finally netted another double in a league game, leading by example and helping Arsenal hit top spot for now.

It was August 22 in 1972 when Arsenal last sat top and great foes Manchester United were propping up the rest in the English top flight, but that is once again the scenario. In this third round of the 2022-23 season's fixtures, United play Liverpool on Monday.

Arsenal have won their opening three league games for the first time since 2004-05, the season that followed their 'Invincibles' campaign. Boss Mikel Arteta has named the same starting XI for their first three games, and that last happened with Arsenal in the famous 2003-04 campaign that saw them complete a league programme undefeated.

William Saliba became the 21st Frenchman to score a Premier League goal for Arsenal – only Newcastle United (also 21) have had as many different French goalscorers – while Bukayo Saka played his 100th Premier League game. At 16 days short of his 21st birthday, it made Saka the youngest player to do so since Raheem Sterling in September 2015.

Arsenal's win percentage against Bournemouth stands at 77 per cent after this 10th win in 13 meetings. Among teams they have faced at least 10 times, they only have a better win ratio against Reading (100 per cent, won 14/14) and – you'll never guess – Glossop North End (86 per cent, won 12/14).

Everton 1-1 Nottingham Forest: Gray day as Toffees scrape a point

After defeats to Chelsea and Aston Villa, coming from behind to draw against promoted Forest represents some sort of progress for Frank Lampard and Everton.

Yet their one point from three games is the fewest Everton have achieved at this stage of a season since 2010-11 (also one point), and the Toffees have stumbled on an obvious early-season problem against newcomers. They have won none of their last eight matches against promoted clubs in August (D5 L3) so might be glad they have Brentford and Leeds United in their remaining league games this month.

Jordan Pickford became the first Everton goalkeeper to assist a Premier League goal since Joel Robles in December 2016 against Leicester City, with a long kick creating the opening for Demarai Gray to snatch the 88th-minute equaliser. The goal ended a barren run of 21 league games for Gray, who had last netted against Arsenal in December.

Brennan Johnson's opener seven minutes earlier took him to 20 goals since the beginning of last season, the most by any Forest player. He thought it was a winner, but the ending of Gray's drought brought a little cheer for the struggling hosts.

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  • Harry Kane stars with hat-trick and two assists as Bayern Munich batter Bochum Harry Kane stars with hat-trick and two assists as Bayern Munich batter Bochum

    Harry Kane was the star of the show with a hat-trick and two assists as Bayern Munich maintained their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga after hammering Bochum 7-0.

    The hosts ran riot with the England captain scoring just minutes after Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s opener and goals from Matthijs de Ligt and Leroy Sane gave them a 4-0 lead at half-time.

    Their dominance continued after the break as Kane scored from the spot and assisted Mathys Tel before earning his first hat-trick for Bayern with minutes to go.

    Kane’s excellent start with Bayern means he has now scored seven goals in five league matches as the defending Bundesliga champions sit top of the table.

    Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Marco Reus’ second-half goal earned Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 win over Wolfsburg while former Chelsea striker Timo Werner scored the only goal for RB Leipzig in their victory at Borussia Monchengladbach.

    Hoffenheim won 2-0 at Union Berlin thanks to goals from Andrej Kramaric and Maximilian Beier, while Werder Bremen were 2-1 winners against Cologne. Davie Selke put the visitors ahead, but Rafael Borre and Justin Njinmah claimed the three points.

    Ermedin Demirovic’s double earned 10-man FC Augsburg a 2-1 victory over Mainz, who had taken the lead through Ludovic Ajorque. Arne Engels was sent off in the 62nd minute, but Augsburg held on.

    Joao Cancelo’s 89th-minute goal completed an amazing comeback by Barcelona as they scored three times in the final 10 minutes to beat Celta Vigo 3-2 in LaLiga.

    Rafael Benitez’s Celta put in an excellent display and looked home and hosed as they went 2-0 up after 76 minutes when Tasos Douvikas added to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s excellent first-half goal.

    But they succumbed to an incredible late rally that no one saw coming as Robert Lewandowski scored twice in four minutes before former Manchester City defender Cancelo won it with one minute of normal time left.

    The comeback will paper over the cracks of what was a worrying display for Barca, who were cut open at will by a vibrant Celta side, but Xavi’s men go to the top of the table with the three points.

    Benitez will be highly enthused by what he saw from his team, even if they are just one point above the drop zone.

    Barcelona climbed above Girona, who continued their excellent start to the season with a 5-3 win over Mallorca, with goals coming from David Lopez, Artem Dovbyk, Ivan Martin, Yangel Herrera and Savio. Vedat Muriqi and Abdon Prats’ brace replied for Mallorca. Sevilla and Osasuna drew 0-0.

    AC Milan drew level with city rivals Inter at the top of Serie A after a 1-0 win over Verona.

    Rafael Leao’s early goal did the damage, though Inter can go clear later in the weekend.

    Juventus missed the chance to go top after they slumped to a 4-2 defeat at Sassuolo.

    The Bianconeri had claimed 10 points from an unbeaten start, but came unstuck at the Mapei Stadium as Sassuolo battled to a second league win.

    Armand Lauriente, Domenico Berardi, Andrea Pinamonti and an own goal from Federico Gatti sealed the three points for Sassuolo. Juventus levelled twice through Matias Vina’s own goal and Federico Chiesa.

    Nantes won an eight-goal thriller 5-3 against Lorient in Ligue 1.

    Goals from Matthis Abline, Eray Comert, Mostafa Mohamed, Florent Mollet and Moses Simon did the damage, with Eli Kroupi, Romain Faivre and Tosin Aiyegun responding for the visitors in a topsy-turvy match.

  • I’ll relish this’ says Dominic Calvert-Lewin after Everton break their duck I’ll relish this’ says Dominic Calvert-Lewin after Everton break their duck

    Dominic Calvert-Lewin took a swipe at the Everton boo boys after marking his return from injury with a goal in the 3-1 win at Brentford.

    The England striker was jeered by some fans after he went off with a fractured cheekbone during the 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa at the start of the season.

    But he showed the Toffees what they have been missing by climbing off the bench to wrap up their first win of the season.

    “Football is a funny old game,” Calvert-Lewin told Sky Sports.

    “When I came off against Aston Villa my own fans booed me off. Today they cheered me. I’ll relish this and take the rest with a pinch of salt.”

    James Tarkowski had headed the Toffees back into the lead against his old club after Mathias Jensen cancelled out Abdoulaye Doucoure’s opener before half-time.

    Then Calvert-Lewin grabbed only his second goal since last October when he collected James Garner’s through-ball and slotted home.

    .
    Boss Sean Dyche insisted a vastly improved display had been on the cards for a while despite picking up just one point from their first five matches.

    He said: “I don’t think it came from  anywhere. The signs have been there but you have to change the storyline, you have to take your chances.

    “To come in at 1-1 was a bit of a head-scratcher, so to come out in the second half and be so calm again was very pleasing.

    “I’m very pleased with the whole performance. My job is to look at the performances, win or lose. We’ve deserved more but you’ve got to force it and today we did.

    “We had a good chat in the week with the players and said it’s us who have to change the story.

    “It’s tough playing well and not getting results. That’s where you should grow and have on-pitch maturity and play under pressure and that’s what we did today.”

    The Bees, by contrast, were distinctly off-colour and are still without a win at home this season.

    Boss Thomas Frank said: “It was a very bad day. Everton deserved to win, we performed badly.

    “We performed very well in our first first five games, but today was a bad one.

    “It was very unlike this group of fantastic players, but we are good at bouncing back from a bad performance and I expect us to bounce back.”

  • Dominic Calvert-Lewin on target in Everton’s victory at off-colour Brentford Dominic Calvert-Lewin on target in Everton’s victory at off-colour Brentford

    Dominic Calvert-Lewin climbed off the bench to kick-start Everton’s season in a 3-1 win at Brentford.

    The England striker grabbed his first goal of the campaign to wrap up a first Premier League win for Sean Dyche’s side.

    James Tarkowski had headed the Toffees back into the lead against his old club after Mathias Jensen cancelled out Abdoulaye Doucoure’s opener.

    It was a vastly improved display by Everton, although the Bees were not at their best.

    They were not helped by a late reshuffle after Kevin Schade limped off during the warm-up and was replaced by Keane Lewis-Potter.

    Ashley Young immediately fell foul of a surging Lewis-Potter run, the 38-year-old’s tackle earning him a booking after just 38 seconds, the fastest of the season so far.

    But Everton went ahead in the sixth minute after James Garner’s corner was initially cleared.

    When the ball was laid back to Garner, the England under-21 midfielder swung in a cross towards Tarkowski.

    The former Bees defender knocked the ball down and Doucoure lashed it home on the volley for what was only Everton’s third league goal of the season.

    They should have been further ahead, but when Dwight McNeil raced on to Beto’s flick-on he dragged his effort just wide, before Doucoure crashed a shot against the crossbar.

    Brentford were uncharacteristically giving the ball away at every opportunity, but when they finally managed to string a few passes together, they equalised.

    Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and then Vitaly Janelt fed the ball out to Jensen, who took a touch before lashing his shot across goal and in off the far post.

    Everton almost hit the front again when Idrissa Gueye’s through-ball found Beto, who dinked it over the advancing Mark Flekken only to see it float the wrong side of the post.

    Then Brentford missed a golden chance to go ahead after Gueye gave the ball away and Lewis-Potter just failed to convert Mbeumo’s cross-shot at the far post.

    Dyche sent on Calvert-Lewin for Beto with half an hour to play, but it was Tarkowski who struck first with a towering header from McNeil’s corner.

    There was no chance of a muted celebration from the centre-half, who was booed by the home fans throughout, as he gleefully ran off with his fingers in his ears.

    Calvert-Lewin, who is finally fit again after a string of injuries, then grabbed only his second goal since last October when he collected Garner’s through-ball and slotted home to secure a much-needed victory.

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