This Week in Stats: Arsenal got back on track against Everton

Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang renewed an old partnership for Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham played out a crazy draw and Southampton won the basement battle.

Just as you can rely on Arsenal to occasionally stumble on the road, as they did at Swansea in midweek, so they usually win at home against weaker teams.

Everton fans may not like their team being described that way, but when they travel to face the big boys, it’s wholly appropriate.

Ouch. And that was before Saturday’s match, too. Everton started with a back three, which Sam Allardyce noted afterwards Swansea had done to great effect on Tuesday. The Everton manager lamented the fact it hadn’t worked for his team.

A look at their performances with a back three this season would’ve suggested it might not. The Toffees had started with three center-backs six times in the league this season, but won only once. The win was against struggling Stoke, and in total Everton had scored four goals but conceded 12 in those matches. Was the Emirates really the right place to implement this system again?

It would appear not. Everton were all over the place, and Arsenal cut through them at will. It wasn’t just the disorganization at the back that was an issue, but the lack of fight in midfield. The visitors made just 10 tackles in the whole match, and just one in their half within the width of the penalty area.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan became the eighth player to create three clear-cut chances in a Premier League match this season. All three were converted, putting the Armenian level with Alexis Sanchez for league assists this season. One of them was scored by his former Dortmund colleague, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The pair linked up for 10 Bundesliga goals in their three seasons together in Germany. On this evidence, there may be many more in north London.

Southampton ended their winless run at the ideal time

West Brom fans had something to cheer almost immediately in their match against Southampton, when Ahmed Hegazi headed in Chris Brunt’s corner after just four minutes.

Despite being bottom of the league, only three teams have scored more goals in the opening 10 minutes of matches than West Brom have this season. As Southampton had won none of their previous 12 matches, the home side would’ve been confident of taking the points.

The Baggies’ problem has been that they have the worst points-per-game record from matches in which they lead. They have won just three times from the 11 matches where they opened the scoring.

The tide began to turn when Mario Lemina scored just his sixth league goal in the last six seasons. It was a brilliant strike, but don’t expect a repeat too soon.

But when a center-back scores for the third game in a row, West Brom must’ve really thought it wasn’t their day. Only Nicolas Otamendi and Jamaal Lascelles in that position have scored more Premier League goals than Jack Stephens in 2017-18.

James Ward-Prowse then scored from a free-kick, meaning all three Southampton goals came from set-piece situations. Prior to kick-off, only four teams had conceded fewer goals from dead ball situations than West Brom this season; now only seven have conceded more.

Salomon Rondon thundered in a header which the late Cyrille Regis, who was honored before the game, would’ve been proud of, but Southampton held on for the win. The three points put them six clear of West Brom. This result could prove pivotal in the Saints’ quest for Premier League survival.

Next: Why Riyad Mahrez should be thanking Leicester City

A dramatic finale as Liverpool drew with Tottenham

Liverpool vs. Tottenham was an enthralling match throughout, though with 10 minutes to play there was little inkling of the drama which lay in store. It was the archetypal ‘game of two halves’, and a point apiece was a fair outcome. Liverpool had the better of the opening 45 minutes, but couldn’t convert that into a two-goal lead.

Victor Wanyama began the madness by scoring the sort of goal defensive midfielders simply aren’t supposed to score. Or it would’ve been, had Mario Lemina not scored a similar one on Saturday. It was only the ninth Premier League goal of his career, and just the second from outside the box.

Mohamed Salah then also scored a superb goal, but it was sandwiched by two Tottenham penalties which were hotly debated. It was not a match that was full of dribbling, but the Egyptian beat a couple of Spurs players on his route to goal.

With their pair of spot kicks, Spurs have now had more league penalties than Liverpool at Anfield this season. Whether they were rightly awarded or not, Spurs had dominated the second half.

A simple statistical shorthand to measure dominance is the number of clearances each team makes. Liverpool made 41 while Spurs made just 17. The fact the Reds were ahead for 77 minutes obviously contributed to this, but there’s no doubt Tottenham were on top for long spells. By the end of the contest, Spurs had taken more shots than their hosts, and that doesn’t happen to Liverpool too often.

The expected goals figures make it look like Tottenham absolutely battered Liverpool. Without the two penalties, the tallies were roughly equal. You’ll have to decide if you think the spot kicks were correctly awarded or not.