Clinical Haaland, sorry Southampton, Vardy’s party: The ten best stats and facts from Premier League Gameweek 1 | OneFootball

The Premier League circus is finally back underway, with the opening round of fixtures bringing 21 goals, two red cards, and one penalty.

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland continued his formidable goalscoring form, making the most of his minimal chances, while one nation was represented in the league for the first time and Jhon Duran again showed why so many top clubs were interested in his signature this summer.

With matchday one now in the books, here are ten of the best stats and facts from the Premier League’s opening weekend.

Erling Haaland managed just 12 touches in ninety minutes against Chelsea, producing two shots and one goal. Manchester City remain unbeaten in the Premier League in 2024, their most recent defeat coming away to Aston Villa in December 2023.

Iraq became the 117th nation to have been represented in the Premier League this weekend as Ali Al Hamadi made his top-flight debut for Ipswich Town.

James Milner made his 635th Premier League appearance this weekend. The new season will be his 23rd in the Premier League, more than any other player. Should he score an uncharacteristic goal this season, he would become Brighton’s oldest goalscorer by quite some margin.

After scoring a late winner against West Ham, Jhon Duran now averages a goal every 103 minutes. The 20-year-old Colombian has found the back of the net six times in the Premier League despite playing just 616 minutes.

Mohamed Salah’s goal and assist against Ipswich Town makes him the most productive MD1 player in Premier League history, with 14 goal involvements (nine goals and five assists) on opening day.

Relatedly, Liverpool have not lost on opening day for 12 years, the most recent defeat being a 3-0 away defeat to West Bromwich Albion in 2012.

Jamie Vardy’s goal against Tottenham takes his tally to 137 in the league, 103 of which have come after his 30th birthday.

Newcastle’s win over Southampton was their second consecutive win in matches where they have been shown a red card, a feat the Magpies most recently achieved in 1997.

In failing to score against Newcastle, Southampton created just 1.8xG despite having a man advantage for 62 minutes and taking 19 shots, just three of which were on target. On paper, it was the worst attacking display of matchday one.

Ashley Young’s red card against Brighton was just the sixth of his 21-year career and his fourth in the Premier League. His first came 6,802 days ago, awarded against Luton Town back in 2006.