Premier League preview: A statistical look at gameweek five
All the figures for this weekend's matches
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Providers of the largest online database for detailed football statistics WhoScored.com preview all of the matches in gameweek 5 of the Premier League.
Norwich host Villa and former manager Paul Lambert in the early kick-off desperate to get one over on their old boss. Norwich only lost 4 league games at home last season but one of those came at the hands of Villa in May with the Midlands outfit also emerging victorious from Carrow Road with a 4-1 Capital One Cup win.
Midlands rivals West Brom are looking to register their first win of the season having only opened their Premier League account for the campaign with an injury time equaliser at Fulham last time out. Sunderland have fared even worse and both need to improve their finishing if they’re to clamber out of the relegation zone, with only West Ham managing a worse shot accuracy than WBA (20%) and Sunderland (19.3%) so far.
The aforementioned Hammers welcome Roberto Martinez's Everton, high on confidence after victory over Chelsea last time out. The Toffees have only conceded twice this season but West Ham boast the joint best defensive record in the league having only seen one effort beat Jussi Jaaskelainen thus far.
Joining Everton as the only other team yet to lose this season are fellow Merseysiders Liverpool, who top the table ahead of Southampton's trip to Anfield. The Saints have had more possession (59.1%) than a Reds side renowned for their retention of the ball and the visitors have won 4 of their last 6 games against their high-profile opponents, so despite playing at home this will be no banker for Rodgers' men.
After a slow start, failing to score in their first two matches, a Hatem Ben Arfa inspired Newcastle are up to eighth in the league and will fancy their chances of progressing further when they host newly promoted Hull. The Tigers, however, have an impressive record at St. James' Park, winning 3 of their last 4 matches in the North East.
In the late kick off on Saturday Chelsea and Fulham meet in a West London derby that Mourinho desperately needs to win. Defeat in the Champions League in midweek exacerbated what was already the worst start to a season the Blues have made in the Abramovich era but five of the last six matches between these two have ended in stalemate.
Moving into Sunday Holloway's Palace will look to climb out of the bottom three with a win over Swansea but the Eagles have failed to score in each of their last 4 matches against the Welsh outfit. There have, however, been 22 goals in the 8 games that the two sides have played this season so Selhurst Park may well be the place to be for more of the same.
Arsenal will hope to record 6 back-to-back wins in all competitions when Stoke visit the Emirates but face a tough task against a Potters outfit rejuvenated under Mark Hughes. They face a free-scoring Arsenal side though, with front man Olivier Giroud netting before the 24th minute in each of the four league games thus far.
Meanwhile, North London rivals Tottenham will want to build on an impressive display against Norwich, with Gylfi Sigurdsson netting their first goals from open play in the campaign. This is despite the fact that Spurs have had the most shots in the league (76) and this weekend they host a Cardiff side who have had the fewest (35).
All eyes will be on the new men in charge in the first Manchester derby since Sir Alex Ferguson's reign at United ended. In this case at least they may have the right man at the helm as David Moyes has only recorded more wins as a manager against Fulham than he has against City (12). In addition, United have won three of their last 4 matches away from Old Trafford against their Manchester rivals 3-2.
Follow @martinlaurence7
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find yet more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team ratings
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments