Football Features

    Chelsea enjoy record-breaking afternoon: Big stats & stories behind today’s 3pm Premier League results

    By Harry Edwards

    Published: 17:31, 14 September 2019

    The Premier League returned after the international break with five games taking place at the traditional 3pm kick-off time.

    After Liverpool’s early win over Newcastle United, eyes turned to Old Trafford for the Harry Maguire Derby between Manchester United and third-placed Leicester City.

    Fourth-placed Crystal Palace were hoping to keep their strong start going with a trip across London to Tottenham Hotspur, who were without a win in their past three games.

    Both Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers were looking to get their domestic seasons up and running after slow starts at Molineux, with the latter still without a win.

    Sheffield United welcomed Southampton to Bramall Lane with the hopes of keeping their good start going, while Burnley travelled to Brighton & Hove Albion.

    So, how did the games play out?

    Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Burnley

    The match summed up in one stat… Neil Maupay has scored with two of his four shots on target in the Premier League this season.

    What does this mean for the Premier League? Brighton moved two places up to 14th with the point, while Burnley remain 12th.

    Man of the match? Solly March, who created three chances and recorded one assist for Brighton.

    Spare a thought for… Brighton’s home fans. Home is where the heart usually is, but Brighton fans may prefer to be away in the Premier League. Jeff Hendrick’s last-minute equaliser means the Seagulls have now gone eight consecutive games without a win at the Amex in the Premier League, last beating Huddersfield on March 2.

    Manchester United 1-0 Leicester City

    The match summed up in one stat… David de Gea has kept as many home clean sheets in the Premier League this season as he did last campaign (two).

    What does this mean for the Premier League? Manchester United jumped up from eighth to fourth, leapfrogging Leicester City in the process, with the Foxes dropping to fifth from third.

    Man of the match? Scott McTominay, who helped maintain United’s forward momentum while also proving solid as defensive support.

    Spare a thought for… Caglar Soyuncu. In the build up to the game, this was being billed as Soyuncu vs Harry Maguire – the man he replaced at Leicester City. Soyuncu had enjoyed a good start to the new season but he was at fault for the only goal of the game, bringing Marcus Rashford down in the box inside 10 minutes.

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    Sheffield United 0-1 Southampton

    The match summed up in one stat… Southampton have won three consecutive away games without conceding for the first time since 1986.

    What does this mean for the Premier League? Southampton have moved up three places to 10th, while Sheffield United drop three places to 13th.

    Man of the match? Moussa Djenepo who completed six take-ons and scored the only goal of the game.

    Spare a thought for… Oliver McBurnie. Sheffield United’s club-record signing thought he had scored the opening goal in the 54th minute after slotting in Ollie Norwood’s cross. But he was denied by VAR, ruling John Egan offside in the build up to the goal. Twelve minutes later, Sheffield United were behind.

    Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Crystal Palace

    Son Heung-min celebrates scoring for Tottenham with Serge Aurier and Danny Rose

    The match summed up in one stat… Son Heung-min has scored in all four of his Premier League home games against Crystal Palace (five goals).

    What does this mean for the Premier League? Tottenham’s emphatic win sees them move six places up to third, while Crystal Palace have dropped from fourth to 11th.

    Man of the match? Son Heung-min, who scored twice to help Tottenham return to winning ways.

    Spare a thought for… Mamadou Sakho. The French centre-back was starting for the first time since February, for a Crystal Palace side that had started the new season well. But it was a day to forget for Sakho and Palace with their defence being put to the sword by Spurs’ fantastic attack.

    Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-5 Chelsea

    Chelsea's Tammy Abraham celebrates scoring his hat-trick against Wolves

    The match summed up in one stat… All 11 of Chelsea’s Premier League goals this season have come from their academy products.

    What does this mean for the Premier League? Wolves have dropped two places to 19th after five games, while Chelsea jumped from 11th to sixth.

    Man of the match? Tammy Abraham, who gave Wolves’ defenders nightmares in bagging a hat-trick to move top of the Premier League goalscoring charts.

    Spare a thought for… Nuno Espirito Santo. Wolves were fantastic last season and well deserving of their seventh-placed finish. But they are looking like a completely different side this campaign. While early poor performances could have been put down to their Europa League exploits, this game came after an international break and Wolves would have expected to do better.

    A record-breaking day for Chelsea…

    Although it was not a perfect win for Chelsea, with Wolves’ two goals showing the Blues do still have some weaknesses and the worst defence in the Premier League, Frank Lampard’s side did break a few records.

    Most revolved around Abraham’s hat-trick, with the 21-year-old becoming the youngest Chelsea player to score three goals in a Premier League match – beating the record previously held by Eden Hazard.

    Abraham also found himself on the wrong end of the scoresheet, being credited for an own goal after Kepa Arrizabalaga parried Roman Saiss’ shot onto his arm. This made the Englishman the first ever player to score a hat-trick and an own goal in the same Premier League game.

    The hat-trick came after Abraham scored two goals in each of his past two Premier League games against Norwich City and Sheffield United. Abraham joins Cristiano Ronaldo and Dele Alli has one of just three players aged 21 or under to score two or more goals in three consecutive Premier League games.

    In the goal which completed the hat-trick, Abraham showed good skill on the ball to get past Conor Coady after receiving the ball from Jorginho. His goal means Jorginho has finally recorded a Premier League assist, having played 3,447 passes since the start of last season – more than any other player in the division.

    Abraham was joined on the scoresheet by Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount for Chelsea, all of whom are English, have come through Chelsea’s academy and are under 22.

    The trio are also the only three players to score for Chelsea in the Premier League this season, sharing 11 goals with Abraham bagging seven, Mount, three and Tomori, one. As a result, Chelsea are the first team in Premier League history to have each of their first 11 goals of the season scored by players under the age of 22, excluding own goals.

    It is also the first time Chelsea’s first 10, and eventually 11, goals of a Premier League season have all been scored by English players.

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