It may have been a quiet week in the Premier League with the FA Cup occupying most of the big guns, but we still found some great stats from the weekend that was.
1) What the hell happens to Tony Pulis teams after relegation is avoided?
Danny Jamieson presents a worthwhile Premier League stats breakdown over at the Fantasy Premier League site and this week exposed a shocking expose of Tony Pulis-coached teams once they secure Premier League status for another season. Jamieson has crunched the number and found that from 2010 onwards, Pulis's teams have never won more than one game after achieving the sacred 40 point figure.
Got some really interesting stuff coming on @OfficialFPL today on WBA and Pulis's record once his team gets 40 PL points. It's not good #FPL
— Danny Jamieson (@DannyJamieson) March 8, 2017
West Brom played Everton yesterday and the result was predictable: a 3-0 win for the Toffees. West Brom have been excellent this season and have a stranglehold on 8th place, but 40 points to their name, except the results to turn against them.
2) Gini Wijnaldum Only Does It At Home
Gini Wijnaldum is proving his immense value to Jurgen Klopp's side this month. He scored his second goals in as many games as Liverpool managed to ... What's amazing about Wijnaldum is how he uses home pitch advantage to his own benefit. He's now scored 16 goals in the Premier League between Liverpool and Newcastle, and everyone of those goals have been scored at home.
3) Bournemouth OWN Darren Randolph
All goalies have their bogey teams and it's clear that Bournemouth have some hoodoo over Bray's Darren Randolph. Going into yesterday's game on the English south coast, Randolph had conceded a bewildering 19 goals in his last 5 games against Bournemouth.
Randolph at least saw the lighter side of things in a pre-match interview with Soccer Saturday.
Darren Randolph v Bournemouth
Last 3 games
16 goals conceded...
Just don't mention it to him... 🙈🙈 #WHUFC #AFCB pic.twitter.com/f0itRQATLe— Soccer Saturday (@SoccerSaturday) March 11, 2017
What happened yesterday? Bournemouth scored 3 more and it could have been worse. They missed two penalties. Good thing there's no Welsh players in that Bouremouth side.
Darren Randolph vs Bournemouth....
4-2
8-0
4-2
4-3
3-2
23 goals conceded in 5 games 👀 #afcb— Mark Jackson (@Jackson94Mark) March 11, 2017
4) The numbers show Granit Xhaka cannot tackle
Pundits love to harp on about Arsenal's lack of steel and grit as a sign of the team's moral weakness. Well, Wenger did sign one player last summer who certainly gives Arsenal a cutting edge in the middle of the field. The problem is, he's also pretty terrible. No one would say Arsenal needs more Granit Xhaha's based on his first season at the Emirates. Xhaha is a red card waiting to happen and after yesterday's game against Sutton, he is currently on unenviable an yellow card run.
Granit Xhaka booked 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
For the fifth match in succession 😱😱😱😱😱— Alex Shaw (@AlexShawESPN) March 11, 2017
Xhaka could have been sent off for the third time this season for a filthy tackle on Matt Rhead and even Bully from Arsenal Fan TV is offering his tackling lessons.
5) Swansea's poor defense may cost them
If Swansea had defeated Hull yesterday at the KC Stadium, they would have put a healthy amount of breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone. Instead Hull were revived by their win and are a mere three points from safety (and leapfrogging Swansea). Paul Clement has clearly given Swansea their mojo back but they are a long way from safety, thanks in large part to their leaky defense.
60 - No side to have conceded 60+ goals after 28 Premier League games (as Swansea have) have stayed up. Mountain.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 11, 2017
Swansea conceded their 61st goal yesterday. They have the Premier League's worst defence by some distance and if they stay in the Premier League, they'll have achieved something truly historic.
6) Norweigans are more prolific than Irish footballers at Premier League hat tricks
Josh King continued a fine season with a hat-trick (and a missed penalty) yesterday for Bournemouth. It was another great moment for Norweigan goal scorers in Premier League history as King joined Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Tore Andre Flo, John Carew, Steffen Iversen and Jon Age Fjortoft on the list of Norweigans who've scored Premier League hat tricks. It's difficult reading for Irish footall fans, who only have three footballers on that list. (can you name them?)
Josh King is the 6th Norwegian international to score a PL hat-trick & the 1st since John Carew (then Aston Villa) in February 2008 #PL pic.twitter.com/LriQBAgGiY
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) March 11, 2017
