The Evergreen James Milner ...Middle East

Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at James Milner, Manchester City, and nationalities.

In recent weeks we have been made to feel exceptionally old by actual children playing and even scoring in the Premier League.

Arsenal’s 15-year-old sensation Max Dowman became the second-youngest player in Premier League history when he came off the bench against Leeds United, while just two days later, 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha scored a last-minute winner for Liverpool at Newcastle United.

This weekend, those of us old enough to buy alcohol and have a mortgage were relieved to see that we are still good for something, with James Milner as our leader. The 39-year-old reached a notable landmark in Brighton’s win over Manchester City on Sunday, which we’ll cover with glee.

Pep Guardiola was not gleeful after that game, and we have a viz to show you why; it’s more than just the fact City were beaten for the second time in their first three Premier League games of the season.

We also have a quiz related to Milner’s achievement, and our Ask Opta question is all about nationalities.

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

STAT – James Milner Still Going Strong

James Milner hadn’t scored a Premier League goal in almost six years before this weekend. It’s fair enough, he’s a central midfielder and hasn’t played much in recent seasons.

However, the former Leeds, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Man City and Liverpool man came off the bench to find the net with a penalty on Sunday.

It was his 56th Premier League goal, and his first for Brighton in their surprise turnaround win over City, equalising from the penalty spot and starting their eventual 2-1 comeback at the Amex Stadium.

At 39 years and 239 days old, Milner is now the second-oldest goalscorer in Premier League history, with only Teddy Sheringham scoring at an older age in the competition. 

With Sheringham aged 40 years and 268 days when he scored his final Premier League goal in December 2006 for West Ham against Portsmouth, Milner would have to play another season in the competition to potentially eclipse the former England striker’s feat. 

Milner did become the oldest player to score a penalty in the competition, however, and the goalkeeper he scored against – James Trafford – was born exactly one month before Milner’s debut in the competition in 2002. That meant Milner has now scored a Premier League goal against goalkeepers born in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Funnily enough, Milner is also the second-youngest Premier League goalscorer of all time. His first Premier League goal – scored against 1977-born goalkeeper Jurgen Macho – made him the youngest goalscorer in the competition at the time in December 2002 (16 years, 356 days). The record was eventually eclipsed by James Vaughan two and a half years later. 

Brighton were 1-0 down on Sunday before Milner stepped up to score from the penalty spot, and fellow sub Brajan Gruda completed the turnaround a minute from time.

Milner scoring a goal under Seagulls boss Fabian Hürzeler was just the 10th time in Premier League history a player has found the net while older than their manager, and the seven-year and 53-day gap between them is the biggest of those 10.

Brighton will hope Milner can become a more regular source of goals too, as he’s been a lucky charm over his Premier League career when scoring. Only Gabriel Jesus (62) has scored in more Premier League games without losing than Milner (55 games – W44 D11).

Milner will also hope to break a major Premier League record later this season, with the versatile schemer now just 13 games away from matching Gareth Barry’s all-time Premier League appearance record of 653.

Based on his half-hour cameo in the win over City, there’s plenty of gas left in his tank yet.

VIZ – Pep Guardiola’s Current Average is… Well, Average

Milner’s penalty was the spark that ignited a Brighton comeback against Man City, and it led to Pep Guardiola’s side losing their second game in the Premier League already in 2025-26. 

City have now lost two of their first three Premier League matches in a season for the first time since 2004-05. More worryingly for Guardiola, only one team have ever lost two of their first three games and recovered to win the title, that being rivals Manchester United in 1992-93, when they had four extra games to sort themselves out. 

Looking at the Premier League table based on the last 38 games – the length of a Premier League season – Man City would be fourth with 65 points, and crucially 19 points off the leading team across that time, Liverpool (84). 

In fact, looking at a 38-game rolling average for Premier League points, this is the worst average that Manchester City have had in the competition since November 2016, when Guardiola was just 11 league games into his new job.

Crucially, much of that 65-point average across 38 games back then was down to underperformance under previous manager Manuel Pellegrini in his final season at the Etihad Stadium.

Man City have suffered 11 defeats in their last 38 games in the Premier League, which is the same number that Guardiola endured across his final three title-winning seasons combined (11 across 114 games in 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24). 

Sixty-five points hasn’t been enough to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League since Everton did so in 2004-25 (with 61), so Guardiola and Man City will have to improve their average if they want to secure another UEFA Champions League spot for next season.

QUIZ – Golden Oldies

Following James Milner’s goal on Sunday, we pose five Premier League questions related to those more advanced in age. Answers at the bottom of the page. 

1. Teddy Sheringham is the oldest goalscorer in Premier League history, but for which club did he score the most goals in the competition? 

2. Roy Hodgson is the oldest manager in Premier League history (76 years, 187 days old), but which six clubs has he managed in the competition?

3. John Burridge is the oldest player to make an appearance in the Premier League at 43 years and 162 days old. Who is the only manager to have won the Premier League title when aged younger than this?

4. Who is the only Premier League player to have scored more than 100 goals after their 30th birthday?

5. Who is the oldest player to assist a Premier League goal, doing so at the age of 40?

Ask Opta

This week’s question comes from Trevor Banks, who asks: “I saw a stat recently that said there have been 250 different French players to play in the Premier League, with only England having more. What other nationalities are high up in the rankings?” 

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:

Yes Trevor, Everton’s Thierno Barry became the 250th different French player to play in the Premier League after his appearance against Leeds United on Matchday 1 of the 2025-26 season, a number that has now risen to 252 following debuts for Arnaud Kalimuendo (Nottingham Forest) and Nordi Mukiele (Sunderland).

It’s also true that England (1,743) have provided the most players for the Premier League, with France second in the ranking ahead of Scotland (218), Republic of Ireland (209) and Spain (177).  

The only other three nations to provide at least 100 different players in the Premier League are the Netherlands (165), Wales (135) and Brazil (128), with Portugal (95) expected to be the next nation to reach the century of players.

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Quiz Answers

1. Teddy Sheringham is the oldest goalscorer in Premier League history, but for which club did he score the most goals in the competition?

Tottenham Hotspur – 97 goals

2. Roy Hodgson is the oldest manager in Premier League history (76 years, 187 days old), but which six clubs has he managed in the competition?

Blackburn Rovers, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Liverpool, Watford and West Brom 

3. John Burridge is the oldest player to make an appearance in the Premier League at 43 years and 162 days old. Who is the only manager to have won the Premier League title when aged younger than this?

José Mourinho in 2004-05 (42y, 84d) and in 2005-06 (43y 93d)

4. Who is the only Premier League player to have scored more than 100 goals after their 30th birthday?

Jamie Vardy – 111 goals

5. Who is the oldest player to assist a Premier League goal, doing so at the age of 40?

Edwin van der Sar, who assisted a goal for Manchester United vs Aston Villa in February 2011

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The Evergreen James Milner Opta Analyst.

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