#surprising stat

Højlund scored 6 UCL goals in 8 matches, Sesko needed 24 to score that many. Timo Wermer scored twice as many goals in his final Bundesliga season before coming to the Premier League (28 to Sesko’s 13) despite Sesko being a more well-rounded player than Werner. If you recall, Wermer was on my radar before he left Leipzig. In terms of actual productivity, he is not currently a better striker than Højlund, not even better than Werner, but he should fit this system better; emphasis on should. Hope he does well, but I’m not getting carried away.

It’s been almost 6 years since Arsenal took all 3 points at Goodison Park. The last time they did, Arsene Wenger was in charge. 😮🤯

Bukayo Saka Premier League Goal Involvements 2019-2026: 110

Jarrod Bowen Premier League Goal Involvements 2019-2026: 96

Bowen had more goal involvements in four of the last seven seasons: 20/21, 21/22, 24/25, and 25/26.

Manchester United is joint top in the Premier League for goals scored, level with Arsenal with 31. However, Arsenal is actually top of the table because they’ve only conceded 10 goals while we’ve conceded 28. To put this in perspective, there are currently 14 teams that have conceded fewer goals so far (in league table order below). Only 4 teams have conceded more and 3 of them are currently in the relegation zone. This is primarily why I had us finishing 10th with anything better being a bonus. We attack like league leaders now but still defend like relegation fodder. It’s not “being negative,” it’s just data. I repeat, we fired the guy who was actually improving our defense and the guy scouting players to do that. With the offensive additions we made this summer, we’d probably be in the title race right now. Food for thought the next time we want to fire a manager before the rebuild is complete.

Arsenal

Manchester City

Aston Villa

Chelsea

Liverpool

Sunderland

Crystal Palace

Brighton

Everton

Newcastle

Brentford

Tottenham

Fulham