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Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at Erling Haaland, Bayern Munich, and goal-filled fixtures.
If you like goals, then you’ve opened the right newsletter. This week’s SVQ is full of them.
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been on something of a barren run in front of goal. On Sunday, though, he converted a stoppage-time penalty against Liverpool to win the game and record his first Premier League goal at Anfield, adding to his almost perfect list of English top-flight stadiums scored in. We’ll analyse his checklist and reveal where he is still yet to find the net.
Over in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich are scoring at a rate that has the guy who plays the goal music at the Allianz Arena complaining of finger cramp. We’ll see how close Vincent Kompany’s men are to breaking records this season.
Our Ask Opta question also relates to a lot of German goals, while our quiz will test your Premier League knowledge to its limits.
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STAT –Haaland’s Goal Rush
It was quite a dramatic ending at Anfield on Sunday.
After Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning free-kick gave Liverpool the lead in the 74th minute, Bernardo Silva equalised six minutes from time. Alisson then brought down Matheus Nunes seconds after the 90-minute mark to give Haaland the chance to win it from the spot.
Despite having a penalty saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili in the reverse fixture, Haaland tucked this one away past Alisson to turn things around and earn the visitors three vital points. But not before a bizarre incident at the death when Szoboszlai was sent off for preventing Haaland scoring another, even though Rayan Cherki’s shot from the halfway line – which the Norwegian was chasing – rolled into the net anyway.
However, you presumably know that already. What you might not know is Haaland’s goal was his first in the Premier League at Anfield. He has scored there before, for Salzburg in a 4-3 defeat in the Champions League, but this was his first for City on red soil.
It meant Haaland has now scored in 23 of the 24 stadiums in which he’s played in the Premier League, with the only one still on his list to tick off being Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, where he has only played once (this season, a 0-0 draw).
That means Haaland has scored in 95.8% of the stadiums he has graced with his presence in the Premier League, the highest percentage of anyone to have played in more than one ground, ahead of Harry Kane’s almost equally impressive record of 94.3% (scored in 33 of 35 stadiums).
Another former Man City striker, Andrew Cole, has the outright record for most Premier League stadiums scored in (37), and is third behind Haaland and Kane for percentage (86%).
Speaking of City strikers, Emmanuel Adebayor found the net in 28 of 33 stadiums (84.8%), while Sergio Agüero did so in 30 of 37 (81.1%). The Argentine is just behind Mohamed Salah (27 of 33 – 81.8%) and Thierry Henry (31 of 38 – 81.6%).
The Premier League figure to have played in the most different stadiums full stop is Ryan Giggs (52), scoring in 29 of them (55.8%), while David James played in the most stadiums without scoring (45). But given he was a goalkeeper, we’ll let him off.
The outfield player to have played in the most stadiums without scoring in any is Kenny Cunningham (41). As we revealed in SVQ just three weeks ago, the former Wimbledon and Birmingham City defender holds the record for most Premier League appearances without scoring (335), so maybe that fact is less surprising.
How many will Haaland rack up? He’ll be hoping to have another crack at the Stadium of Light next season, while he’ll also be eager to take the field at some unfamiliar grounds like the Riverside Stadium, the Coventry Building Society Arena, or perhaps even the MKM Stadium or the Den.
VIZ – Brilliant Bayern
When Hoffenheim’s Kevin Akpoguma was sent off in just the 17th minute against Bayern Munich on Sunday, the writing appeared to be on the wall.
The only surprise was probably that Bayern scored just five times in what ended up as a 5-1 victory to keep their lead at the top of the Bundesliga at six points after Matchday 21.
Two penalties from Harry Kane and a hat-trick from Luis Díaz took Bayern to another routine victory, and it could have been more. The hosts totalled 27 shots, 14 on target, and ended the game with an xG of 6.02, the most from one team in a Bundesliga game since Bayern themselves managed 6.41 against Mainz in March 2024.
It was the seventh time Bayern have scored at least five goals in a league game this season.
Galop Infernal from Jacques Offenbach’s opera Orpheus in the Underworld (or the can-can music to you and us) greets every Bayern goal in the Allianz Arena, and this season has seen it played 45 times across just 11 games in the German top flight.
In total, over their 21 Bundesliga games this season, Vincent Kompany’s relentless side have amassed 79 goals, at least 35 more than anyone else (ahead of Hoffenheim’s 44). In fact, it’s at least 16 more than any other team from Europe’s top five leagues. Barcelona are second on 63 but have played two more league games than Bayern.
They also have a higher total xG than every other team from Europe’s top five leagues, with their 63.8 xG at least 10 more than anyone else except Barça (58.6).
Bayern are hitting an average of 3.8 goals per league game, meaning they’re on course to score 128 in their 34 games, which would obliterate the current Bundesliga record (101 by Bayern in 1971-72). Indeed, the Rekordmeister only need 23 goals to beat the record, which would mean scoring at just 1.8 goals per game from here would do it.
Would it be a record for any of Europe’s other top five leagues, though?
In Serie A, the most goals scored in a season is 125 (Torino in 1947-48), though that was when teams in Italy’s top flight played 40 games in a league campaign.
Real Madrid have the La Liga record of 121 goals in 2011-12 (38 games), while Racing Paris managed 118 goals in the 1959-60 French top flight (38 games).
Bayern would need to slightly up their output to beat the English record, though. Aston Villa scored 128 times in the 1930-31 First Division, though that was over 42 games, and somehow, they still didn’t win the league. Villa finished behind champions Arsenal, despite the Gunners only scoring a measly 127 goals.
In terms of goals per game, Bayern are way out in front of everyone. Can they maintain it until the end of the season, though? We’ll have to wait and see, but their Bundesliga opponents may have to consider fielding multiple goalkeepers soon.
QUIZ – Romero’s Reds, Point Droppers, and Szoboszlai Set-Pieces
1. Cristian Romero received his fourth red card in the Premier League since he joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2021. It’s the most of any player during this period and the joint-most of anyone for Spurs in the competition’s history along with who?
2. In their 2-0 win at Burnley, West Ham kept their first Premier League clean sheet since a 3-0 win against who in August?
3. Which side became the team to have dropped more points from winning positions than any other in the Premier League this season at the weekend?
4. Crystal Palace have picked up 63% of their points in the Premier League this season away from home (20/32). Who are the only team to have a higher proportion on the road?
5. Dominik Szoboszlai scored his fourth goal from a direct free-kick this season. That’s the most by a Liverpool player in a single campaign (all competitions) since who in 2012-13?
Scroll to the bottom for the answers
Ask Opta
Our question this week comes from Nicolas W, who asks: “Magdeburg beat Greuther Fürth 5-4 in the 2. Bundesliga at the weekend, after the reverse fixture also finished 5-4 but to Greuther Fürth. Have two teams ever scored that many goals against each other in a season?”
Do you have a stat-based question you’d like Opta to answer in a future edition of SVQ? Email us at editors@theanalyst.com or message us on X @OptaAnalyst with #AskOpta and we’ll pick the best one.
Answer:
Yes, we saw that too, Nicolas. A whopping 18 goals scored across two league games between the same two teams in a season is rare, and that is the most in a German second-tier fixture since it combined regional leagues in 1981. Those 18 goals came in games where the total xG between both teams was just 7.07.
Prior to that, though, in the 1978-79 season, FC Augsburg and FC Hanau 93 scored a total of 21 goals against one another in the 2. Bundesliga South Division, with Augsburg winning 7-3 at home and 6-5 away.
There are more examples when looking across Europe’s top five leagues.
In the 1930-31 season, there were 22 goals across the two La Liga games between Barcelona and Athletic Club. Barça won 6-3 at their pre-Camp Nou home of Les Corts, before Athletic thrashed them 12-1 in the reverse fixture.
There have also been five occurrences of two teams totalling 19 goals against each other across two league fixtures:
- Racing Santander vs Alavés (1932-33) – 9-0 and 2-8
- St Etienne vs Marseille (1951-52) – 10-3 and 4-2
- Real Madrid vs Elche (1959-60) – 11-2 and 5-1
- Racing vs Metz (1961-62) – 11-2 and 4-2
- Werder Bremen vs OFC Kickers 1901 (1983-84) – 7-3 and 8-1
Quiz Answers
1. Cristian Romero received his fourth red card in the Premier League since he joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2021. It’s the most of any player during this period and the joint-most of anyone for Spurs in the competition’s history along with who?
Younes Kaboul
2. In their 2-0 win at Burnley, West Ham kept their first Premier League clean sheet since a 3-0 win against who in August?
Nottingham Forest
3. Which side became the team to have dropped more points from winning positions than any other in the Premier League this season at the weekend?
Newcastle United (19)
4. Crystal Palace have picked up 63% of their points in the Premier League this season away from home (20/32). Who are the only team to have a higher proportion on the road?
Tottenham (66%)
5. Dominik Szoboszlai scored his fourth goal from a direct free-kick this season. That’s the most by a Liverpool player in a single campaign (all competitions) since who in 2012-13?
Luis Suárez (5)
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