Premier League 2018/19: 5 interesting stats from gameweek 1

Arsenal v Manchester City - Premier League
Arsenal vs Manchester City was the game of the weekend

The Premier League is back with a bang! Reigning champions Manchester City got off to a perfect start with a 2-0 victory against Unai Emery's Arsenal at the Emirates. In fact, rest of the top six: Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham, all secured an opening day victory.

On the other hand, the newly promoted teams did not get off to the best of starts as only Wolves managed to secure a point as Cardiff City and Fulham were comfortably beaten.

There were some standout players from the first gameweek with the likes of Sadio Mane, Richarlison and Ruben Neves firing on all cylinders. Big spending Liverpool emerged as the table toppers at the end of the first week with a 4-0 drubbing of West Ham United.

As gameweek 2 approaches, we look back at some of the interesting stats which you may have missed during gameweek 1:


#1 Sterling reaches the half-century mark

Raheem Sterling became just the 11th player in the history of the Premier League to score 50 goals before turning 24. The most amazing thing about this feat is the fact that Sterling has scored 26 goals in just 65 matches since Pep Guardiola took over at Manchester City.

To put it into context, the England international scored his first 24 goals in 128 games; highlighting a remarkable improvement under the tutelage of Guardiola.

The other players on this list include: Emile Heskey (52), Robbie Keane (52), Andy Cole (56), Chris Sutton (58), Harry Kane (66), Romelu Lukaku (77), Cristiano Ronaldo (77), Wayne Rooney (86), Robbie Fowler (106) and Michael Owen (110).


#2 Opening day blues? Not for Manchester City

Arsenal FC v Manchester City - Premier League
City won their opening game for the 8th time in a row

Manchester City won their 8th consecutive opening fixture when they beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates, a run that started way back in 2011.

Their run is 2nd on the list of most successive wins in the 1st match of the season, just behind Chelsea who lead the charts with 9 successive opening day wins (2002-2010), a streak that ended in the 2010/11 season as they were held to a goalless draw by Stoke City.

After comfortably pushing aside Arsenal, Manchester City also broke the jinx of defending champions losing their season openers for past two years (Leicester City were beaten 2-1 by Hull City in 2016 while Chelsea lost 3-2 to Burnley in 2017).

#3 Pogba scores, Manchester United win

Manchester United v Leicester City - Premier League
Pogba made no mistake from the spot

Recently, all the news portals and transfer gossips were all centred around one player: Paul Pogba. The Frenchman wanting a move away from Manchester United was the talk of the town.

Putting all the rumours to bed, Pogba entered Old Trafford with the captain's armband and led Manchester United to a 2-1 victory over Leicester City, scoring United's 1st goal of the season from the penalty spot.

This was the 11th time that Pogba has scored in a Premier League game and amazingly, Manchester United have won them all. He is now the joint leader alongside Ryan Babel (11 goals scored, 11 won).


#4 Sadio Mane's love affair with the opening fixture continues

Liverpool FC v West Ham United - Premier League
Mane scored a brace as Liverpool were off and running with a comfortable 4-0 win

Sadio Mane became only the 6th player in the league's history to score on 3 successive opening day fixtures, as he scored twice in Liverpool's 4-0 win over West Ham.

Only former Manchester United and Tottenham star Teddy Sheringham has managed more, having scored on four successive opening day matches from 1992/93 to 1995/96.

Others who managed the feat on 3 successive occasions include Louis Saha (2001/02 - 2003/04), Thiery Henry (2001/02 - 2003/04), Alan Shearer (2002/03 - 2004/05) and David Silva (2013/14 - 2015/16).


#5 Daniel Sturridge makes an impact

Liverpool FC v West Ham United - Premier League
Sturridge made an immediate impact

Daniel Sturridge became only the 2nd player to score inside 30 seconds of coming on as a substitute on the opening day since the 2007/08 season as he stamped his name on the scoresheet with a traditional poacher's goal in a 4-0 victory for his side.

To be precise, Sturridge took only 24 seconds to score his 1st goal of the season. However, Matt Derbyshire of Blackburn Rovers holds the record for the quickest goal by a substitute as he scored just 22 seconds after coming on as a substitute in a 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough in the 2007/08 season.

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Edited by Debjyoti Samanta