Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at late goals and Arsenal’s corners.
It was a funny sort of weekend. Liverpool, Napoli and Real Madrid all lost after previously boasting 100% league records, while there was a frankly astonishing number of late goals in the Premier League.
There were eight goals in second-half stoppage time in the Premier League, and in this week’s SVQ we’ll be taking a closer look at that and how it compares to the competition record.
One of the late shows was at St. James’ Park, where all three goals between Newcastle and Arsenal came from corners. Let’s face it, no-one is surprised to see Arsenal score from them anymore, but their numbers are still fascinating enough to be analysed, which is exactly what we’ll be doing with some interesting corner-kick data visualisations from the Gunners.
Our quiz this week is all about late goals, and as we’re feeling especially generous and are just remarkably lovely people, just like our subscribers, we’ve got TWO Ask Opta questions for you.
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As the great philosopher Lenny Kravitz once said, “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”
This weekend was a big one in the Premier League if you like your goals late and your drama plentiful.
Liverpool were hoisted by their own petard on Saturday after scoring 90th-minute goals in three of their first four league games, with Crystal Palace turning the tables at Selhurst Park, while Arsenal benefitted from one of their own at St. James’ Park on Sunday.
The scoreline changed in plenty of other games where after the board had gone up for second-half stoppage time; in fact, at least one goal was scored beyond the 90th minute in seven of the 10 games in the Premier League on Matchday 6.
In total, there were eight goals scored in second-half stoppage time on MD6; the second most on record (since 2006-07) in the Premier League behind only MD27 of the 2023-24 season (10).
The theme was set with the first game of the weekend as Brentford’s Mathias Jensen sealed their 3-1 home win over Manchester United in the 95th minute, while Eddie Nketiah’s dramatic 97th-minute goal for Crystal Palace handed Liverpool their first loss of the season. After scoring in the 90th minute, the second of Erling Haaland’s two goals in Man City’s 5-1 thrashing of Burnley came in the 93rd minute, while Brighton struck twice in second-half stoppage time to beat Chelsea 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Eli Junior Kroupi broke Leeds hearts with a 93rd-minute equaliser for Bournemouth at Elland Road, and João Palhinha also rescued a point for Tottenham in the 95th minute against Wolves. All that was before another dramatic late finale, with Gabriel Magalhães heading in a 96th-minute winner for Arsenal at Newcastle United on Sunday.
It’s obviously still early days but we have seen a greater-than-usual percentage of goals coming in the 90th minute and beyond this season. After MD6, 21 of the 157 goals scored in the Premier League have been in the 90th minute or later (13.4%), with the highest percentage for a full season being 9% in 2023-24.
On top of that, eight of 43 match-winning goals (18.5%) have been scored in the 90th minute or later, with the highest percentage for a full Premier League season being just 9.1%, also in 2023-24.
Will this trend continue? Who knows, but if you’re one of those people who leaves games early to beat the traffic, you should perhaps consider sticking around from now on or else seriously risk missing a game-defining moment or two.
VIZ – Arsenal Still Corner Kings
Speaking of defining moments, Sunday potentially felt like one for Arsenal.
The Gunners didn’t have a great record at Newcastle, and they were 1-0 down heading into the last 10 minutes at St. James’ Park thanks to Nick Woltemade’s first-half header following a short corner.
But anything you can do and all that…
Arsenal equalised through an almost identical short corner routine in the 84th minute, with Mikel Merino heading in, before Gabriel rose highest to nod home a dramatic late winner from Martin Ødegaard’s corner deep in stoppage time. Newcastle will be getting a bit sick of those, having seen Rio Ngumoha score an even later winner for Liverpool at the same end just a few weeks ago.
Arsenal played well and deserved the win on the balance of things, but also ultimately had to rely on their amazing proficiency from corners to get the job done.
The Gunners have now scored six goals from corners in six Premier League games this season. That’s more than anyone else, and at least twice as many as everyone except Chelsea (5).
This is, of course, nothing new. Arsenal are good at corners, it’s hardly going to come as a shock to anyone.
Since the start of the 2023-24 season, they have scored 36 goals in the Premier League from corners; at least 15 more than any other team. Only Chelsea (21), Tottenham (21), Liverpool (20) and Everton (20) have even reached 20 goals in that time. In fact, only those four along with West Ham (19) have even scored half as many as Arsenal.
Not including own goals, as they don’t have an expected goals (xG) value, Arsenal have scored 32 goals from corners from 28.1 xG in that time.
Just looking at this season, though, Arsenal have taken 45 corners in the Premier League, at least four more than any other team, and with Declan Rice taking more than half of them (24). From those, 18 shots on goal have occurred, and six goals have gone in. That essentially means Arsenal are having an attempt on goal from more than a third of their attacking corners, and a third of those attempts are finding the net.
They are now averaging a goal from a corner every league game, which seems like a good way to go about winning an elusive title.
As you can see from the graphic below, they’re mixing it up as well, with an almost identical amount of corners going to the near post and the far, with almost half (49%) finding the central area within 12 yards of the goal for their taller players to try and bundle in.
This rate of a goal every game might not be sustainable, but Arsenal’s threat from corners that has been apparent for a few years now is clearly here to stay, and if anything is getting even greater.
On Saturday, they face a West Ham side who have conceded eight goals from corners in their first six Premier League games, as many as they did in the entirety of last season… *gulp*
QUIZ – Injury-Time Inquiries
As the theme of this weekend was late goals, we decided to base our quiz around them. In the spirit of it, take as long as you want to answer them. Answers at the bottom of the page.
1. Eli Junior Kroupi equalised for Bournemouth in the 93rd minute at Leeds United on Saturday. From which Ligue 1 club did the Cherries sign him?
2. Eddie Nketiah recorded both the latest winning goal on record scored by Crystal Palace in the Premier League and the latest winner conceded by Liverpool in the competition (since 2006-07). What was the goal timed at? A) 95:29, B) 96:59, or C) 97:49?
3. Ten-man Chelsea lost 3-1 to Brighton having led the game at half-time, conceding two goals in second-half stoppage-time. It is the first time the Blues have lost by 2+ goals having been ahead at the break in a Premier League home game since October 2011 against who?
4. At 93:27, João Palhinha’s strike against Wolves was Tottenham Hotspur’s latest equalising goal in a Premier League game since who found the net for them in September 2023 against Sheffield United (97:33), a game they ultimately won?
5. Timed at 95:45, Gabriel Magalhães’ goal at Newcastle was Arsenal’s second-latest winning goal in a Premier League away game on record (since 2003-04), only behind who scoring in December 2023 (96:23)?
Ask Opta
This week’s first question comes from Vassilis Vassiliou, who asks: “Olympiacos currently have three consecutive victories against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. How many other teams in the past have managed to achieve such a streak?”
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:
Thanks Vassilis. The Greek giants travel to Arsenal this week in the UEFA Champions League, and it will be interesting to see if they can add to their three consecutive wins at the Emirates.
Liverpool and Brighton both also have three consecutive wins there as visiting teams in all competitions, with the last of those victories coming in March 2022 and May 2023 respectively, but Manchester City are the only team to have won more than three games on the bounce at the Emirates as an away team.
In fact, City went on a remarkable run of winning seven games in a row at the home of the Gunners, with the last of those being a 3-1 victory in February 2023.
Ask Opta… Again
As promised, here’s another. Our second question comes from Bilal Ahmed Shariff, who asks: “Manchester City are already as many as eight points behind the league leaders after Gameweek 5. When was the last time this happened?”
Answer:
Obviously, this question came in last week and City have since cut Liverpool’s advantage over them to five points, but we can still answer this.
The last time Man City were as many as eight points behind the Premier League leader after just five matchweeks was in 2006-07, when Portsmouth (yes, it was that long ago) led the table with 13 points after five games. City were struggling in 17th place with just four points, so trailed Pompey by nine.
They ultimately finished 14th, with Portsmouth ending up ninth as Manchester United won the Premier League by six points ahead of Chelsea.
Quiz Answers
1. Eli Junior Kroupi equalised for Bournemouth in the 93rd minute at Leeds United on Saturday. From which Ligue 1 club did the Cherries sign him?
Lorient
2. Eddie Nketiah recorded both the latest winning goal on record scored by Crystal Palace in the Premier League and the latest winner conceded by Liverpool in the competition (since 2006-07). What was the goal timed at? A) 95:29, B) 96:59, or C) 97:49?
B) 96:59
3. Ten-man Chelsea lost 3-1 to Brighton having led the game at half-time, conceding two goals in second-half stoppage-time. It is the first time the Blues have lost by 2+ goals having been ahead at the break in a Premier League home game since October 2011 against who?
Arsenal (5-3)
4. At 93:27, João Palhinha’s strike against Wolves was Tottenham Hotspur’s latest equalising goal in a Premier League game since who found the net for them in September 2023 against Sheffield United (97:33), a game they ultimately won?
Richarlison
5. Timed at 95:45, Gabriel Magalhães’ goal at Newcastle was Arsenal’s second-latest winning goal in a Premier League away game on record (since 2003-04), only behind who scoring in December 2023 (96:23)?
Declan Rice vs Luton Town
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A Weekend of Late Goals and Arsenal’s Unstoppable Corners Opta Analyst.
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