STATS AND FACTS: Premier League Matchweek 4
As we head into Matchweek 4 of the Premier League, here’s your match-by-match guide packed with stats and facts.
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Arsenal v Nottingham Forest
In all competitions, Arsenal have won their last six home games against Nottingham Forest by an aggregate score of 19-2. The Gunners are unbeaten in 14 games on home soil against Forest (W10 D4) since a 3-1 defeat back in March 1989.
Nottingham Forest have won just two out of 16 Premier League matches against Arsenal (D4 L10) and both wins came at the City Ground, in 1996-97 and 2022-23.
Arsenal’s four-match winning Premier League run came to an end with their defeat to Liverpool on MD3
– the Gunners have not lost consecutive games in the competition since December 2023.
Nottingham Forest have lost five of their last 11 Premier League matches (W3 D3), only one fewer than in their previous 24 games (W15 D3 L6).
Among current Premier League sides, only Fulham (12) are on a longer run without a clean sheet than Nottingham Forest (11); away from home, Forest have gone nine without a shutout since keeping three in a row in December and January last season.
Arsenal rank second, behind Chelsea, for expected goals from set plays (2.34) but they rank second bottom, ahead of only Sunderland, for expected goals in open play (1.54). 50.1% of their xG has been from set plays, the highest ratio in the division.
Two of the three sides to make the most high intensity pressures in the final third this season are Nottingham Forest (301, 2nd) and Arsenal (280, 3rd), with strikers Viktor Gyökeres (76, 2nd) and Chris Wood (72, 3rd) also in the top three among players for that metric.
Nottingham Forest have made the most passes ending in the final third this season (471) and have played the most passes into the box (114) of any side. Forest also top the charts for crosses (85) in 2025-26, with their average of 28.3 per game far higher than their average last season (16.3 per game).
Arsenal forward Viktor Gyökeres has scored 10 goals in his last seven home league appearances for both Sporting and the Gunners, scoring a brace in his first Emirates appearance against Leeds. The only two players to score two or more goals in both of their first two home Premier League appearances are David Hirst in August 1992 and Sergio Agüero in August/September 2011.
Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson has made the most line-breaking passes of any midfielder in the Premier League this season (32), while only Alex Iwobi (5) has made more line-breaking passes into the opposition penalty area than Anderson (4).
Newcastle United v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Newcastle United have lost just two of their 20 Premier League matches against Wolves (W7 D11), a defeat percentage of just 10% - their lowest against any side they’ve faced at least 20 times in the competition.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have won just one of their last 22 away top-flight visits to Newcastle (D7 L14), winning 2-1 in December 2018 under Nuno Espírito Santo. In 43 away games at the Magpies in the top division, Wolves have just two clean sheets, with those coming in 1899 and 1974.
Newcastle have scored in all 20 Premier League games against Wolves – only Arsenal vs West Brom (26) and Arsenal vs Wolves (22) have played more games against one opponent and scored in each game in the competition’s history.
Newcastle United are winless in five Premier League games (D2 L3), last going six without a win in September 2022. The Magpies have lost both of their last two league games at St. James’ Park, last losing three in a row in February 2021.
Wolves have lost all three of their Premier League games this season, and could lose each of their opening four games of a league campaign for the very first time in their history, with this their 127th season in the Football League/Premier League.
Despite winning none of their first three Premier League matches so far this season (D2 L1), Newcastle have faced the fewest shots of any side (18). It’s the fewest faced by a side in their first three games since 2021-22 (Man City, 15).
Since winning six Premier League games in a row in March and April, Wolves have picked up just one point in seven games (D1 L6), the first side in top-flight history to produce such a run, while the last team to follow up a six-game winning streak with seven winless games was Liverpool in the 2002-03 season (won seven in a row, then 11 winless, D5 L6).
Wolverhampton Wanderers have spent 81.5% of their Premier League matches losing so far this season, with only one other side spending more than 50% in a losing position (Aston Villa, 57.1%). The second highest percentage a side has spent in one game state in 2025-26 is Newcastle when drawing (79.6%).
New Wolves forward Tolu Arokodare was the joint leading scorer in the Belgian Pro League in the 2024-25 campaign with 21 goals, also having the most shots in the division (158). However, according to his xG, he was expected to score 28.6 goals, an underperformance of 7.6 which was the biggest in the division.
Nick Woltemade will be the fourth German player to play in the Premier League for Newcastle United, along with Dietmar Hamann, Loris Karius and Malick Thiaw. He scored five goals in his final seven appearances for Stuttgart in all competitions, and only eight Bundesliga players scored more goals in all competitions in 2024-25 than Woltemade (17).
Fulham v Leeds United
Fulham have lost just one of their five home Premier League matches against Leeds United (W3 D1), going down 2-1 in 2020-21 under Scott Parker.
The last four Premier League meetings between Fulham and Leeds have produced 18 goals (4.5 per game), with both sides finding the net in each match. Leeds won both games in 2020-21, while Fulham completed a double in 2022-23.
Fulham have failed to win each of their last four Premier League games (D2 L2), last going longer without victory in April 2023 (5). The Cottagers could fail to win any of their opening four games of a top-flight campaign for just the fourth time, after 1951-52 (7), 2011-12 (6), and 2020-21 (6).
Leeds have lost their last eight away Premier League matches in London, conceding 26 goals in these defeats, with their last win coming on the final day of 2021-22 at Brentford. They last had a longer top-flight losing run in the capital between 1925 and 1930 (12 in a row).
Fulham have conceded a penalty in each of their last five Premier League matches, the joint longest run by any side along with Wimbledon (August 1999) and Norwich City (August/September 2011). No side has given away a penalty in six games in a row.
Among the 18 teams to have fallen behind in a Premier League game this season, Leeds are the only side not to register a shot when losing, failing in 66 minutes of their defeat to Arsenal on MD2. However, Leeds have had more shots when they’ve been drawing this season than anyone else (31).
Fulham have gone 12 Premier League matches without a clean sheet and have kept only five in their last 43 matches. Since 2022-23, the only ever-present side with fewer clean sheets than the Cottagers (24) is West Ham (22).
Fulham have conceded 44 fouls in the Premier League this season, with only Brighton giving away more (47). Sasa Lukic leads the charts for fouls among players with 12, while since the start of last season no player has more yellow cards than Lukic (14, level with Will Hughes).
Only Man Utd’s Bruno Fernandes (12) has created more chances in the Premier League this season than new Leeds midfielder Anton Stach (10). It's the most by a player in the opening three games of a season for a newly promoted side since Emiliano Buendía in 2019-20 for Daniel Farke's Norwich City.
Despite playing only 52 minutes in all competitions so far for Leeds, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has registered the most expected goals (1.51) of any Whites player in 2025-26, though he’s yet to score.
Since the 2022-23 campaign, Calvert-Lewin has underperformed his xG in the Premier League by the most of any player (minus 13.7 – 12 goals from 25.7 xG).
Everton v Aston Villa
Everton are winless in their last 12 Premier League matches against Aston Villa, all since Villa returned
to the competition in 2019-20 (D3 L9). Their last win was in March 2016, a 3-1 win at Villa Park.
Aston Villa have won four of their last five away Premier League visits to Everton (D1), keeping a clean sheet in each of their last four. It is Villa’s longest ever run of away league clean sheets against a single opponent.
Everton have failed to score in their last four home Premier League games against Aston Villa, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin the last Toffees player to score against Villa on home soil. The only time they’ve gone five without a home league goal against an opponent was six in a row against Liverpool between 1973 and 1978.
Everton have won five of their last six Premier League games (L1), as many as their previous 21 beforehand (W5 D10 L6). At home, the Toffees are looking to win 3+ successive league games for the first time since May 2024 (5).
For just the second time in the club’s history, Aston Villa have failed to score in their first three league games of a season, also doing so in 1997-98 (first 3). Only four teams have failed to score in their first four Premier League games of a season: Sheffield Wednesday in 1993-94, Newcastle in 2005-06, Swansea in 2011-12 (all 4) and Crystal Palace in 2017-18 (7).
Everton won their first Premier League match at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on MD2, in a 2-0 win over Brighton. Two teams have won their first two matches at their second permanent home stadium in the competition – Derby at Pride Park in 1997 and Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2019.
Since the start of May, no side has won more Premier League points than Everton (16 – W5 D1 L1), and only Liverpool (14) have scored more goals than the Toffees (13).
Harvey Elliott could make his Aston Villa debut in this match – he was involved in seven goals in his last seven Premier League starts for former side Liverpool (2 goals, 5 assists), assisting in five of those seven starts. The last player to assist on his Premier League debut for Villa was Leon Bailey in August 2021.
Jack Grealish has assisted two goals in both of his last two Premier League appearances – the first ever Everton player to achieve this, and as many times as he had recorded more than one assist in his first 191 appearances in the competition beforehand. No player in Premier League history has ever assisted 2+ goals in three successive matches.
No Englishman has created more chances in the Premier League this season than Everton’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (8) – he has already played more league minutes for the Toffees (270) than he did for Chelsea in the 2024-25 campaign (259).
Crystal Palace v Sunderland
This is the first meeting between Crystal Palace and Sunderland since February 2017 in the Premier League – the Black Cats won 4-0 at Selhurst Park.
The away team has won five of the last six Premier League meetings between Crystal Palace and Sunderland (D1) – in eight games between the sides, the only home win was in August 2013, Palace winning 3-1 at Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace are on the longest current unbeaten league run of any Premier League side (9 – W3 D6). They last went 10 top-flight games unbeaten between May and October 1990 (12).
Crystal Palace have lost just one of their last 16 Premier League matches against newly promoted sides (W10 D5), losing 2-1 to Luton Town in November 2023.
Sunderland have won two of their three Premier League games this season (L1), the first newly promoted side to win 2+ of their opening three matches of a campaign in the division since Leeds United in 2020-21 (also 2). Only two promoted clubs have started a Premier League season with three wins in their first four games: Nottingham Forest in 1994-95 and Bolton Wanderers in 2001-02.
Crystal Palace have applied the most high-intensity pressures to opponents in the Premier League this season (1,081), with winger Ismaïla Sarr making the joint-most of any player (199), while Sarr (130, 1st), Daniel Muñoz (107, 2nd) and Tyrick Mitchell (103, 4th) are all in the top-four for high intensity pressures in their own half.
Sunderland are yet to score a first half goal in the Premier League this season, having just 11 shots in the opening 45 minutes – in the second half, the Black Cats have scored five goals from 20 shots, with only Liverpool scoring more second half goals in the division this term (6).
Ismaïla Sarr has had a hand in nine goals in his last 12 Crystal Palace starts in all competitions (6 goals, 3 assists). Since the first game in this run on 26 April, only Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández has more goals and assists combined among Premier League players (5 goals, 8 assists).
Crystal Palace midfielder Will Hughes is the only player to be booked in all three Premier League games so far this season. Four players have been yellow carded in each of their side’s first four matches of season in the competition: Chris Morris for Middlesbrough in 1995-96, Paul Williams for Coventry in 1997-98, James Perch for Newcastle in 2010-11, and Adam Smith for Bournemouth in 2022-23.
Despite not starting a single Premier League game yet, Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor has netted two goals in three games in 2025-26. He's one of four players to score two or more goals in his first three Premier League games without starting any, along with Alan Smith in 1998 (2), Hernán Crespo in 2005 (3), and
Álvaro Negredo in 2013 (2).
Bournemouth v Brighton & Hove Albion
Bournemouth won four of their first six Premier League matches against Brighton and Hove Albion (D1 L1) but they have since lost five of their last six against the Seagulls (W1).
Brighton have won two of their last three away league visits to Bournemouth (L1) – the Seagulls are looking for consecutive away wins at the Cherries for the first time since February 1932.
Bournemouth have picked up six points in their first three Premier League matches this season (W2 L1), their second best return after three games in a top-flight season (7 in 2018-19). They’re looking to win three games in a row for the first time since December 2024.
Since the date (Valentine’s Day) of Brighton’s first Premier League game after their 7-0 loss at Nottingham Forest, only Liverpool (36), Man City (33) and Chelsea (33) have more points in the division than the Seagulls (31), and only Liverpool (36) have netted more goals in that time than Brighton (34).
After facing 19 shots and 10 on target in MD1’s 4-2 loss against Liverpool, Bournemouth have faced the fewest shots (11) and fewest shots on target (2) of any side across MD2 and MD3 and were the only side with two clean sheets in that time. Burnley in 1895-96 and Arsenal in 1989-90 are the only two topflight sides to ship four in their opening game then keep three clean sheets in a row.
Bournemouth have played 17.1% of their passes long in the Premier League this season, the highest ratio of any side and the Cherries’ highest percentage in a single Premier League campaign.
Brighton have scored a penalty in four of their last six Premier League matches, while in 2025 they’ve netted nine penalties – four more than any other side. Four teams have scored 10+ penalties in a single year - Chelsea in 2021 (12), Leicester and Man Utd in 2020 (10) and Man City in 2023 (10).
Antoine Semenyo is the only Premier League player with both 10 shots and five chances created so far this season – however, the Bournemouth forward is yet to score or assist in six appearances against Brighton, despite have 12 shots and creating six chances against the Seagulls.
Bournemouth’s David Brooks has created four big chances in the Premier League, the most of any player so far this season. Brooks and forward Evanilson have combined to create seven chances for each other in 2025-26, two more than any other duo.
Brighton veteran James Milner became the oldest ever penalty scorer in Premier League history, aged 39 years and 239 days when he netted against Man City. He’s also seven years and 53 days older than manager Fabian Hürzeler, the biggest gap in age between a player being older than his manager when finding the net.
West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham have won just one of their last seven Premier League matches against Tottenham Hotspur (D3 L3), a 2-1 away win in December 2023.
Each of the last three Premier League meetings between West Ham and Spurs at the London Stadium have ended as 1-1 draws – Spurs are winless in five league visits (D3 L2) since a 3-2 win in November 2019.
West Ham lost their first two Premier League games of 2025-26 but beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 on MD3 – they’ve only won consecutive matches once since David Moyes departed the club, doing so in February 2025.
Spurs have lost 10 of their last 16 London derbies in the Premier League (W3 D3), keeping just one clean sheet in their last 21 derby matches in the league, a 2-0 away win at Thomas Frank’s Brentford in February 2025.
Having averaged 3.4 shots on target per game across their first 20 Premier League matches under Graham Potter, West Ham had eight in their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, their most in a league game under him.
Tottenham Hotspur have lost 17 of their last 23 Premier League matches that haven’t been against newly promoted sides (W3 D3), with two of their last four league wins against non-promoted sides coming away at the Etihad against Manchester City in November 2024 and August 2025.
In his first Premier League appearance since January, Crysencio Summerville came on as an 82nd minute substitute and assisted a goal and won a penalty for West Ham in their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest – he was the first player in Premier League history to be subbed on that late in a game and achieve that.
Following a 2-0 win away at Man City, Thomas Frank is looking to become just the third Spurs manager to win his first two away top-flight matches in charge of the club, along with Ossie Ardiles in 1993-94 and Tim Sherwood in 2013-14.
Jarrod Bowen has had a hand in nine Premier League goals in his last nine appearances (6 goals, 3 assists). Since his first appearance under Graham Potter in early February, only Mohamed Salah (15) has scored and assisted more goals than Bowen (9 goals, 4 assists) in the Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur defender Pedro Porro has played 86 Premier League games but never been involved in a 0-0 draw, an all-time record without featuring in one. It’s the second-longest start to a Premier League career without a 0-0, with only Mikaël Silvestre going more games from his debut without a goalless one (134 matches before featuring in Man Utd 0-0 Arsenal in September 2003).
Brentford v Chelsea
Just one of the eight Premier League meetings between Brentford and Chelsea have been won by the
home side (D3 L4), a 2-1 win for the Blues in December 2024.
Brentford have won three Premier League matches against Chelsea but all of them have been away from home – at home, they are winless in four against the Blues (D3 L1).
This is Chelsea’s fourth London derby in four Premier League matches this season, making them just the second side in Football League history to start a league campaign with four consecutive London derbies, after Crystal Palace in 2021-22. Having won their last two, the Blues could win three successive league derbies for the first time since February 2024 (run of 4).
After only losing two of their final 10 league games last season (W5 D3), Brentford have lost two of their first three in 2025-26 (W1). At home, though, the Bees have won three of their last four league games
(L1).
Chelsea have won as many as two of their first three Premier League games for only the second time in the last seven seasons (also two out of three in 2021-22).
Brentford have lost three of their last five Premier League matches (W1 D1), as many as they’d lost in their previous 14 combined (W8 D3 L3).
Chelsea kept just four clean sheets in their first 26 Premier League games under Enzo Maresca but have since kept nine in their last 15, conceding only eight goals. Since the start of this clean sheet run (25 February), the Blues have the most clean sheets in the top-flight.
Enzo Fernández has been involved in 14 goals in his last 18 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea
(5 goals, 9 assists). Since the start of last season, the only Premier League player with more assists in all competitions than Fernández (18) is Mohamed Salah (24).
Despite only playing 181 minutes in the Premier League this season, only one player has made more dribbles than Chelsea’s Estêvão (18). His nine against Fulham made him the youngest player on record (since 2006-07) with that many in a game for the Blues (18 years, 128 days) and youngest of any player since a 17-year-old Raheem Sterling for Liverpool vs Stoke in October 2012.
Brentford forward Igor Thiago has applied 132 high intensity pressures in the opposition half this
season so far, 27 more than any other player, and he also leads the way high intensity pressures in the
final third of the pitch (88).
Burnley v Liverpool
Burnley have lost 14 of their 18 Premier League matches against Liverpool (W2 D2), including each of their last five in a row since a 1-0 win at Anfield in January 2021.
Liverpool have won eight of their nine away Premier League matches at Turf Moor against Burnley (L1), winning the last six in a row. The Reds have won seven away top-flight games in a row against three teams previously: West Brom (8 between 1983 and 2009), Norwich (8 between 1995 and 2021) and Crystal Palace (7 between 2016 and 2022).
Liverpool are looking to win their opening four Premier League matches in a season for a third time, also doing so in 2018-19 (finished 2nd) and 2019-20 (won the title). It would be the third time in a row the reigning top-flight champions have won their first four games (also Man City in 2023-24 and 2024-25),
the first time ever in top-flight history that’s happened.
Burnley have already shipped 37.5% of their total league goals from 2024-25 (16) in the Premier League this season (6). If they concede two in this game, it’d be the joint earliest in Football League history a side had already conceded 50% or more of their goal tally from the previous campaign, with Portsmouth
in 1987-88 shipping 15 goals in four games, 54% of their previous season’s tally (28).
Burnley won four of their first seven Premier League matches against the reigning champions (D1 L2) but they’ve since lost 10 of their last 11, conceding 30 goals in those 10 defeats. The exception in this run was a 1-0 away win at Liverpool in January 2021.
Liverpool have scored in 37 consecutive Premier League matches, their longest run in top-flight history. Only Tottenham (39 in a row, March 2023 – March 2024) and Arsenal (55, May 2001 – November 2002) have scored in more Premier League matches in a row.
Burnley have scored with none of their 15 attempts in the first halves of Premier League matches this season, but in the second half of games they’ve netted with four out of 12 shots, the best conversion rate after the break of any side (33%).
This will be Burnley manager Scott Parker’s first Premier League match against Liverpool since losing 9-0 with Bournemouth back in August 2022. He has beaten the Reds before however, a 1-0 win in March 2021, and could become the second manager to beat both Jürgen Klopp and Arne Slot in the Premier League, along with Marco Silva.
Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz has made the most off-ball runs in the Premier League this season (92), while he’s also made the most runs into the attacking third (42) and most runs ahead of the ball (26).
Alexander Isak is set to make his Liverpool debut in this match – between 2022-23 and 2024-25, only two players scored more Premier League goals than he did (54). Two players (Hugo Ekitiké and Rio Ngumoha) have scored on their debuts this season, with 1946-47 the last time more Reds player scored on their top-flight debuts in one campaign (Len Carney, Billy Liddell, Albert Stubbins, Cyril Done, William
Watkinson).
Manchester City v Manchester United
Manchester City have won five of their last eight Premier League matches against Manchester United (D1 L2), though they failed to win either game (D1 L1) last season for the first time since 2020-21.
Manchester United have inflicted 25% of Pep Guardiola’s total home Premier League defeats as Man City manager, with the Red Devils winning four times there against the Spaniard (4/16). They are looking for consecutive wins at the Etihad for the first time since March 2021.
Since 2015-16, the home team has ended on the winning side in just six out of 20 Premier League meetings in the Manchester derby (D4 L10). Indeed, since then, the only Premier League fixture to see more away wins (10) is Crystal Palace vs Liverpool (12).
Manchester City have lost two of their first three Premier League matches for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign (W1), while it is the fewest points (3) ever collected by Pep Guardiola in his first three league games of a season. The last time City lost three of their first four games was in 1995-96, a season they were eventually relegated.
Manchester United registered their eighth win in 30 Premier League matches under Rúben Amorim (D7 L15) thanks to their 3-2 win over newly promoted Burnley on MD3. Half of Amorim’s wins have been against promoted sides, with the Portuguese manager holding just a 16% win ratio against sides not promoted to the division that campaign (4 wins in 25).
Manchester United have had 58 shots in the Premier League this season, 14 more than any other side. It’s their most shots in the first three games of a season since 2017-18 (60).
Pep Guardiola has lost 49 of his 345 Premier League matches (W247 D49), with 22% of those coming since the start of last November (11). A defeat in this game would see him take the second largest number of games to lose 50, behind Sir Alex Ferguson, whose 50th defeat wasn’t until his 367th match.
Manchester United have made the most off-ball runs in behind their opponent’s defensive line in the Premier League this season (131), with forward Bryan Mbeumo responsible for 54 of those – the most of any player. Three of the five most in-behind runs by a player in a match so far in 2025-26 have been Mbeumo, with a high of 22 against Burnley last time out.
Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes has created the most chances in the Premier League this season so far both overall (12) and in open play (8). Fernandes has also scored in each of United’s last three wins against Man City in the competition (March 2021, January 2023, December 2024).
Both Man City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and Man Utd’s Senne Lammens could make their Premier League debuts in this game. Excluding MD1 games, in only two Premier League games have both clubs given a debut to goalkeepers: Nottingham Forest (Andy Marriott) vs Spurs (Kevin Dearden) in April 1993 and Charlton Athletic (Darren Randolph) vs Liverpool (Daniele Padelli) in May 2007.
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