Premier League: Matchweek 14 round-up, statistical highlights

A round-up of the midweek Premier League fixtures, including the key statistical highlights.

Published : Nov 30, 2017 17:15 IST

Raheem Sterling ensured that Manchester City dropped no points at home to Southampton
Raheem Sterling ensured that Manchester City dropped no points at home to Southampton
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Raheem Sterling ensured that Manchester City dropped no points at home to Southampton

For the second time in as many matches, Raheem Sterling came to Manchester City's rescue with an injury-time winner to preserve the leader's eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

Southampton was the England winger's latest victim as Pep Guardiola's men extended their Premier League winning run to 12 matches and maintained the comfortable buffer between themselves and Manchester United, which beat Watford 2-4 24 hours earlier.

There were resounding wins for Arsenal and a Mohamed Salah-inspired Liverpool over Huddersfield Town and Stoke City respectively, while Wayne Rooney produced arguably the story of matchweek 14 with a stunning hat-trick which helped Everton demolish David Moyes' West Ham 4-0 in front of the incoming manager Sam Allardyce.

Meanwhile, as we review midweek action with the help of Opta data, Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham Hotspur must try to find a remedy for its prolonged wobble of one win in five league matches.

RAHEEM'S DREAM RUN CONTINUES

Sterling has now scored winning goals for City in four matches this season beyond the 84th minute. The earliest of those came in last week's 1-0 win over Feyenoord on matchday five in the Champions League, while he also struck deep into injury time at Bournemouth in September.

Read: Sterling delivers again for the Citizens

The former Liverpool man has been directly involved in 12 goals in his past 13 competitive appearances for Manchester City (10 goals, two assists), while Kevin De Bruyne's involvement in the winner carried a sense of inevitability.

De Bruyne's free-kick deflected in off Virgil van Dijk to open the scoring and the Belgian then turned provider for Sterling at the death. Since making his City debut in September 2015, de Bruyne has had a hand in 51 goals (17 goals, 34 assists), which is the most in the competition.

THE YOUNG OF OLD

Watford can be forgiven for failing to properly account for the goal-scoring prowess of transformed wing-back Ashley Young, whose first-half brace on Tuesday was his first double at Vicarage Road since he was a 21-year-old winger for the Hornets in October 2006.

Read: Young leads Man United's victory over Watford

Romelu Lukaku might have rued missing out on marking his 200th Premier League appearance with a goal. However, the Belgian striker can console himself in the knowledge that only 10 players have scored more than his 93 in the same timeframe.

The Red Devils has now increased its tally of goals scored to 32 and just eight conceded in the Premier League this term. Impressively, its goal difference of +24 is its best at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 2000-01, when they won the title (+26).

And it was always likely to enjoy a visit to Watford, which had lost more matches against Manchester United (eight) than against any other Premier League opponent.

ROONEY ENSURES UNHAPPY RETURN FOR MOYES

Moyes was still the Everton manager the last time Rooney went home with a Premier League match ball, 2273 days ago for Manchester United in a 5-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in September 2011.

No player has scored more often in the Premier League era against West Ham than the former England captain (14), whose seven goals in 12 top-flight matches for Everton this term already outstrip five in 25 for United last time around.

Rooney's opener came on the rebound after Joe Hart saved his 18th-minute penalty. It was the ninth miss of his Premier League career and only Teddy Sheringham (10) and Alan Shearer (11) have missed more penalties. Manuel Lanzini's miss from the spot after half-time meant this was the first time both teams missed penalties in the same game since Manchester City v Tottenham in October 2014.

Moyes has now lost all five of his league meetings with Everton since leaving the club, with the aggregate score standing at 12-0.

SPURS' SLOPPY STARTS

Frustrated by its weekend draw with West Brom, Tottenham would have been confident of bouncing back on Tuesday given it had not lost a top-flight match away to Leicester since the final day of the 2001-02 season.

Instead, Spurs suffered its fourth defeat of this Premier League season - as many as it had in 2016/17.

Pochettino will, at least, know where the problems lie: his side has conceded five first-half goals in its last three league fixtures, as many as it conceded in its previous 31 outings.

The host's 2-1 success also serves as a reminder of the big-game danger posed by Jamie Vardy. The England striker has now scored 11 goals against the 'big six' since the start of last season, five more than any other player.

RECORD FOR SALAH AS OZIL AND GIROUD LINK AGAIN

Salah's flying start for Liverpool now stands at 12 goals in 14 Premier League games – a club record – after the 3-0 win over Stoke.

Read: Salah, Mane combine to secure win for Liverpool

Sadio Mane was on target for the first time in six league games, his longest such drought for the Reds, and Jurgen Klopp's men boast five wins, four draws and a solitary defeat from their past 10 matches.

Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring with his fifth goal on home turf in Arsenal's 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town before departing with a groin injury.

That cleared the way for supersub Olivier Giroud to get involved and the Frenchman's brace means he has 16 Premier League goals from the bench. Only Jermain Defoe (23), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Nwankwo Kanu (both 17) have more.

Mesut Ozil now has 14 assists for Giroud in his Arsenal career. Robert Pires to Thierry Henry (17) and Henry to Freddie Ljungberg (15) stand as the Gunners' most profitable link-ups.

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