We were treated to a dramatic midweek catalogue of Premier League games, featuring a glut of goals, last-gasp comebacks, multiple red cards, and fairytale endings.
Read on for the best of the stats – and there are a fair few – from gameweek 21.
Stats you might have missed
Gibbs-White climbs Forest’s tree
- Morgan Gibbs-White moved to joint-third in Nottingham Forest’s all-time Premier League goalscorer charts.
Nottingham Forest claimed a much-needed 2-1 win in their relegation scrap away to West Ham after Morgan Gibbs-White coolly slotted home a late penalty.
Forest’s star man has now scored 22 Premier League goals for the Tricky Trees, which has moved the midfielder up to third in the club’s all-time list in the competition, level alongside Stan Collymore.
It surely won’t be long until he catches up with Bryan Roy (24), although Chris Wood leads the way by some distance on 37 goals.
Meanwhile, ex Forest boss Nuno Santo is now as short as 1/10 to be the next Premier League manager to leave and, if this occurs, he’ll become the first ever manager to be sacked by two different Premier League clubs within the same season.
Brazilian brilliance
- Igor Thiago is now the highest-scoring Brazilian in a single Premier League season.
Fresh from scoring a hat-trick against Everton, Brentford’s Igor Thiago continued his stunning form by netting a brace in a 3-0 win over Sunderland, a result that lifted the Bees up to 5th in the table.
Thiago now has 16 goals this season, which is the most ever scored by a Brazilian in a single Premier League campaign – and there’s still 17 matches to play. His impressive tally surpasses the 15-goal return of fellow countryman Roberto Firmino for Liverpool in 2017/18.
Meanwhile, Thiago’s teammate, Caoimhin Kelleher has now saved four of the six penalties he’s faced in the Premier League, giving him a 67% save rate, which is the highest of any goalkeeper to have faced five or more spot-kicks.
Birthday boy’s cherry on the cake
- Birthday boy Antoine Semenyo became just the third player to score 30 Premier League goals for Bournemouth.
Bournemouth completed a first-ever league double over Tottenham thanks to a fairytale last-gasp winner from the departing Antoine Semenyo, who sealed a dramatic 3-2 victory in what looks to be his final appearance for the club.
Semenyo, who is expected to now complete a move to Manchester City, became just the third player to score 30 Premier League goals for the Cherries, after Josh King and Callum Wilson – and the first to score for the club in the Premier League on their birthday.
The game also saw Junior Kroupi net the seventh goal of his debut Premier League campaign, which drew him level with Lamine Yamal as the highest-scoring teenagers in Europe’s top-five leagues this season.
Double red for the Blues
- Everton set a new record for the most Premier League matches (9) with two red cards for one club.
Wolves extended their unbeaten run to three games after a 1-1 draw at Everton, in a match that was overshadowed by two red cards for the temperamental Toffees.
Goalscorer Michael Keane was dismissed in the 83rd minute and then teammate Jack Grealish followed him down the tunnel seven minutes later.
It marked the ninth time Everton have had two players sent off in a Premier League game, which is the most of any club ever in the competition.
Wilson strikes again
- Harry Wilson is one of only three Premier League players to have accumulated 10 goal involvements since the start of November.
Speaking of red cards, Chelsea had their seventh sending off of the season in all competitions after Marc Cucurella was shown his marching orders in just the 22nd minute in a 2-1 defeat at Fulham.
Harry Wilson – who else? – grabbed the winner as he continued his superb patch of form in front of goal, with nine goal involvements in his last nine games.
Wilson’s winner was his seventh league goal of the season, which is his joint-best return in a single campaign, a tally he’s sure to extend from now through to May.
Wilson is now one of only three players – alongside Erling Haaland and Igor Thiago – to have been directly involved in 10+ goals in the Premier League since the start of November.
Pep’s Hurzeler headache
- Fabian Hurzeler became the first-ever manager to avoid defeat in each of his first four top-flight meetings with Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City were forced to settle for a third consecutive Premier League draw as they were held 1-1 at home by Brighton.
Erling Haaland’s first-half penalty – the 35,000th goal in Premier League history – gave City the lead, but Kaoru Mitoma struck on the hour to earn the Seagulls a point.
The draw also saw Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler make a small slice of history as he became the first manager ever to avoid defeat in his first four top-flight meetings with Pep Guardiola. The German now holds an impressive record of two wins and two draws against the City boss.
The game also saw Brighton’s James Milner become only the fifth player aged 40 or over to play in the Premier League, joining Teddy Sheringham, Gordon Strachan, Ryan Giggs, and Kevin Phillips in this grouping.
Pass completion for Lindelof
- Victor Lindelof registered the highest pass completion in the Premier League since 2022.
Aston Villa missed the opportunity to leapfrog Manchester City and close the gap on leaders Arsenal after they were held to a goalless stalemate by Crystal Palace, which was the club’s first draw in 22 matches in all competitions.
Amid the goalless draw, Aston Villa centre-back Victor Lindelof stood out, completing all 85 of his passes, which is the highest 100% passing accuracy in a Premier League game since Aymeric Laporte’s tally of 110 for Manchester City against Everton four years ago.
Man United’s creator in chief
- Bruno Fernandes has created more chances (56) and provided more assists (8) than any other player in the Premier League this season.
Bruno Fernandes made a much-needed return to the Manchester United starting lineup in the club’s first game without Ruben Amorim, who was sacked on Monday, with Darren Fletcher placed in temporary charge.
A change in management failed to spark a victory as United were held to a 2-2 draw at Burnley, which extended the club’s run to 16 straight league games without an away clean sheet.
However, Fernandes did make an impact upon his return. The United skipper, who played for an hour, created five big chances for the sixth time in a Premier League game this season and assisted the first of Benjamin Sesko’s two goals. He’s now created more chances (56) and provided more assists (8) than any other player this season.
Toon’s late late show
- Harvey Barnes scored the latest ever winner (101m 48s) in a Premier League match.
We were treated to a game of basketball at St James’ Park in a classic end-to-end thriller, which saw Leeds take the lead three times and hold a 3-2 lead at 90 minutes, only for Newcastle to storm back to win 4-3 in the 12th minute of injury time.
Not only was Harvey Barnes’ 102nd-minute goal for the Toon the latest winner on record in a Premier League match, but it also marked just the sixth occasion in Premier League history that a team has led three separate times in a match and still gone on to lose – and the first since Leeds’ 4-3 defeat to Tottenham back in November 2022.
Raya’s strong defence
Arsenal missed the chance to make significant further inroads in the title race after they were held to a goalless draw at home to defending champions Liverpool. However, a point is a point, and it could well prove crucial come the end of the season as the Gunners maintained their undefeated run on home soil with 29 points from a possible 33 on the board.
Arsenal keeper David Raya has now kept 12 Premier League clean sheets without having a single save to make since his arrival at the club, which is eight more than any other keeper since 2023/24.
Raya also leads the league this season with 10 clean sheets in 21 appearances, having conceded a division-low 14 goals.
