Stat, Viz, Quiz: The Premier League is Back ...Middle East

Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at sub goals, Chris Wood, and penalty saves..

The new Premier League season has kicked off, and it just feels right. With the greatest of respect to our friends and families, weekends now have meaning again.

Liverpool and Bournemouth got us off to an electric start on Friday with a six-goal thriller, and while the excitement didn’t quite stay at that level throughout the weekend, there were still notable performances from Manchester City, Tottenham, Sunderland, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, even though Ruben Amorim’s team ultimately ended up with nothing from their clash with Arsenal.

In this first Stat, Viz, Quiz of the new season, we’ll be looking at something from Fulham’s late draw at Brighton & Hove Albion, with the Cottagers’ expertise at using their bench again coming in handy.

We decided to throw in a bonus stat this week as well in light of a new record being broken in the Championship that will make many of us feel exceptionally old, while the viz section honours the great man that is Chris Wood after yet another excellent start to a campaign for him.

You know the rest by now; a quiz and an Ask Opta question to round us off, giving you more top footy knowledge and stats to wow your friends, colleagues, or even a date.

Our Chris Wood stat would make a great icebreaker we reckon…

If you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe below for free to receive SVQ every Tuesday.

STAT – Rodrigo Muniz: Sub Extraordinaire

Last season, Fulham set a new record for the most goals scored via substitutes in a single Premier League campaign (17).

Therefore, it was perhaps not too surprising that their hero on Saturday, as they stole a point in second-half stoppage time against Brighton, rose from the bench.

It was even less surprising that it was Rodrigo Muniz who arrived as a sub to make it 1-1, collecting the ball at the far post from a corner and firing in to delight the away fans at the Amex Stadium in the 97th-minute.

Seven of Muniz’s last nine Premier League goals for Fulham have been as a substitute, while his seven sub goals are the most by any player in the competition since the start of last season.

It should be said that no player has been subbed on more often than him in that time (24 times), but still, the goals justify Marco Silva’s decision to bring Muniz off the bench so often.

To show just how effective Silva’s team are at providing goals from the bench, the player to have scored the second-most goals in that period is Fulham’s Harry Wilson (five), who also put the corner in for Muniz’s equaliser at the weekend, though the Wales international did start the game.

In third place is former Aston Villa striker Jhon Durán (four), who could perhaps have challenged Muniz had he not left for the Saudi Pro League earlier this year, though that move may have been a result of frustration at starting games on the bench so often.

There are rumours that Fulham could lose Muniz before the close of the window. If they can hold onto him, though, it will surely keep opposition managers nervously glancing at the Fulham bench as games approach the hour mark.

BONUS STAT: Monga Beats Bellingham

Keeping with the theme of subs, towards the end of last season, at 15 years and 217 days old, Jeremy Monga came off the bench for Leicester City against Newcastle United to become the second-youngest player in Premier League history.

If that wasn’t enough, Monga came off the bench again on Saturday to score for Leicester at Preston North End, making him the youngest goalscorer in a Championship game since the competition rebrand in 2004.

At 16 years and 37 days old, Monga broke the record by 26 days, beating a certain Jude Bellingham’s previous record (16y 63d for Birmingham City vs Stoke City in August 2019).

It was a lovely goal as well, cutting in off the left and firing a shot inside Daniel Iversen’s near post, though it was ultimately for nothing as Preston went on to win the game 2-1.

Relegation and an early defeat this season mean there’s not much optimism at the King Power Stadium at the moment, but in Monga, they appear to have one of the brightest prospects in English football, and it will be intriguing to see how many minutes he gets this season.

Anyone being made to feel tremendously old by all this, don’t worry. James Milner is still around.

Milner came off the bench for Brighton in their 1-1 draw with Fulham at the age of 39 years and 224 days. He was the only outfield player born in the 1980s to appear in the Premier League on Saturday, while 21% of the other players (31/150) who featured in games weren’t even born when he debuted on 10 November 2002 for Leeds United.

Hmm, maybe that doesn’t help much actually… *reaches for pipe and slippers*

VIZ – Three Wood

Chris Wood feels like quite an underrated striker.

He never seems to be linked to any of the bigger clubs, and yet, his numbers are often up there with some of the very best and Nottingham Forest wouldn’t trade him for any other forward in the world.

Wood scored 20 Premier League goals last season, the joint-fourth most of any player, while his shot conversion rate of 29.4% was the best of anyone who scored at least four goals in the division.

The big New Zealander took just five minutes to get off the mark in 2025-26 at the City Ground on Sunday, scoring the first of Forest’s goals in what was a relatively routine 3-1 home win over Brentford.

And that followed a trend for Wood. He scored with his first shot of the league campaign for the third season in a row.

In 2023-24, Wood came off the bench late on in Forest’s first two games, having his first effort late on to secure a 2-1 home win over Sheffield United. Just a few minutes after coming on, he expertly headed in a cross from Serge Aurier to win it for his team.

Last season, Wood started the opening-day 1-1 draw against Bournemouth, opening the scoring with a tap-in after Ryan Yates’ initial shot had been saved.

Then on Sunday, Wood hooked the ball into the far side of the net after it dropped kindly to him from a corner. He went on to score another later in the first half to pick up where he left off last season.

Forest added striker Arnaud Kalimuendo from Rennes on Monday, who was the third top scorer in Ligue 1 last season, but Wood will surely remain the main man for the Tricky Trees as they look to show the 2024-25 campaign was no fluke, and that they can also compete in Europe as they prepare for the Europa League.

QUIZ – Matchday 1

This week’s quiz tests how much you know about the best facts and stats from the first matchday of the 2025-26 Premier League season. Answers at the bottom of the page.

1. After his goal against Bournemouth on Friday, Mohamed Salah has scored 10 goals on the opening day of Premier League seasons, more than anyone else in the competition’s history. He has failed to score just once for Liverpool in their first game of a league campaign. Who was it against?

2. Ezri Konsa was sent off for the third time in a Premier League game for Aston Villa in their draw with Newcastle United. Who is the only player to have received more red cards for Villa in the competition?

3. After a 3-0 loss at Sunderland on Saturday, West Ham (902) became the fourth team to concede 900 away goals in the Premier League, and doing so in the fewest number of matches (556). Who are the other three sides to have conceded 900+ on the road in the competition?

4. Tijjani Reijnders became just the second player to both score and assist on their Premier League debut for Manchester City after who did so in August 2011 vs Swansea City?

5. After their 1-0 win over Manchester United, Arsenal have now won 71 Premier League games with Martin Ødegaard starting the game as captain (D20 L15), level with Patrick Vieira. Who is the only former Gunners skipper to have led them to more victories in the competition?

Ask Opta

This week’s question comes from Ian Callender, who asks: “After his latest blank in the Super Cup final (I’m a Spurs supporter) I asked the question on X ‘Has Vicario ever saved a penalty?’ Who holds the record for saving the most penalties and, more pertinently for Vicario, who has faced the most without saving any?”

Do you have a stat-based question you’d like Opta to answer in a future edition of SVQ? Email us at [email protected] or message us on X @OptaAnalyst with #AskOpta and we’ll pick the best one.

Answer:

Thanks Ian.

We don’t have stats for penalty shootouts unfortunately, but we can confirm that Guglielmo Vicario has not saved any of the nine in-game penalties he has faced as a Tottenham goalkeeper. However, he did save three of the 16 penalties he faced at Empoli.

Looking at goalkeepers from teams in Europe’s top five leagues, the most on record in all competitions (since 2009-10) is Samir Handanovic, who saved 30 penalties from the 98 he faced.

We also need to mention the player with the second-most in that time, Diego Alves. The former Almeria and Valencia stopper saved 25 penalties from just 49 against, meaning he actually saved more than half of the penalties he faced.

The goalkeeper to have faced the most penalties without saving any in all competitions while playing for a team from Europe’s top five leagues is Marco Silvestri, who has not saved any of 36 such penalties he has faced in his career. However, he did save two of the 14 he faced when he was playing in the Championship for Leeds United.

In the Premier League, the goalkeeper to have saved the most penalties is David James, who stopped 13 of 63 faced, ahead of Thomas Sørensen’s 12 of 50.

A shout out as well to Brad Friedel, who has the record for most penalties saved in the Premier League for a single club, stopping 10 of the 30 at Blackburn Rovers. However, he didn’t save any of the 21 spot-kicks he faced with his other clubs in the competition.

Craig Gordon has faced the most penalties in the Premier League without saving any (15). Current Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen isn’t far behind, having failed to save any of the 12 he has faced in the competition.

What Are We Up to at Opta Analyst?

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Quiz Answers

1. After his goal against Bournemouth on Friday, Mohamed Salah has scored 10 goals on the opening day of Premier League seasons, more than anyone else in the competition’s history. He has failed to score just once for Liverpool in their first game of a league campaign. Who was it against?

Chelsea in 2023-24

2. Ezri Konsa was sent off for the third time in a Premier League game for Aston Villa in their draw with Newcastle United. Who is the only player to have received more red cards for Villa in the competition?

Lee Hendrie (four)

3. After a 3-0 loss at Sunderland on Saturday, West Ham (902) became the fourth team to concede 900 away goals in the Premier League, and doing so in the fewest number of matches (556). Who are the other three sides to have conceded 900+ on the road in the competition?

Everton (925), Tottenham (922) and Newcastle (912)

4. Tijjani Reijnders became just the second player to both score and assist on their Premier League debut for Manchester City after who did so in August 2011 v Swansea City?

Sergio Agüero (2 goals, 1 assist)

5. After their 1-0 win over Manchester United, Arsenal have now won 71 Premier League games with Martin Ødegaard starting the game as captain (D20 L15), level with Patrick Vieira. Who is the only former Gunners skipper to lead them to more victories in the competition?

Tony Adams (130)

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Stat, Viz, Quiz: The Premier League is Back Opta Analyst.

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