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5 Most Surprising Stats from the Opening Weeks of the Premier League Season

Leo Collis

The international break has once again cruelly interrupted Premier League action, leaving fans of England's top flight to twiddle their thumbs until Tottenham Hotspur host West Ham United on October 19.

In the meantime, we've trawled through some notable numbers and details from the 2024-25 domestic season so far, allowing us to unearth some surprising statistics you won't find in your typical league table or box score.

Here are five of the best to help keep you a little busy until the players board their flights back.

Danny Welbeck Has Passed Eric Cantona and Luis Suarez in Total Premier League Goals

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Danny Welbeck is tapping into something special with Brighton & Hove Albion this season, with his four goals so far putting him joint-fifth in the Premier League's goalscoring chart alongside Mohamed Salah and Ollie Watkins (among others).

The 33-year-old might even have exclusive access to the fountain of youth, as he hasn't scored more than six in a season since the 2013-14 campaign with Arsenal. Whatever new Seagulls boss Fabian Hürzeler is doing, it's obviously working, and it's allowed the forward to pass a notable milestone.

His total of 71 Premier League goals across a career that has featured run-outs in 18 seasons has seen him eclipse the totals of two bona fide Premier League legends: Luis Suarez (69) and Eric Cantona (70).

Edging ahead of those names will delight the Manchester-born veteran in different ways, and it's no mean feat. While Suarez and Cantona only clocked up 10 Premier League seasons between them, they will still go down in history as being among the most enigmatic goalscorers the competition has ever seen. Being in their vaunted company will be a huge source of pride for Welbeck.

At this rate, he's on track to score 21 goals this season, which would put him within touching distance of the 100-club.

André Onana Leads the League in Clean Sheets

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Liverpool have conceded only two goals this season, but it's not Alisson who is leading the league in the race for the Golden Glove.

André Onana is surprisingly out in front in that regard, despite Manchester United languishing down in 14th place and having conceded eight so far.

The Cameroonian has earned four clean sheets in the 2024-25 campaign, one more than Liverpool No. 1 Alisson and Arsenal's David Raya.

The Brazilian missed Liverpool's 3-0 victory over Bournemouth with a thigh injury, allowing Caoimhín Kelleher to add a shutout to his season tally. The Irishman will now get the chance to notch up a few more, with Alisson sidelined for the next six weeks with a hamstring problem.

That also means Onana can extend his lead in the clean sheet stakes, opening up a buffer until Alisson returns to action. If only United were as good at scoring goals as Onana and his back line are at keeping them out—the Red Devils have only scored in three of seven games.

Jhon Durán Has Scored the Same Number of Goals as the Whole Southampton Team

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Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Jhon Durán was seemingly on his way out of Aston Villa, with both Chelsea and West Ham United interested in the player's signature, according to the Evening Standard.

However, he stuck around at Villa Park, even earning himself a new contract. The Villans will be thrilled that he did, with the Colombian scoring winning goals against the Hammers, Leicester City and Everton, while he also helped pad the scoreline against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The 20-year-old has still not started a league game this campaign, though, coming off the bench in all seven and racking up just 184 minutes of action—meaning he averages a goal every 46 minutes.

Meanwhile, the whole Southampton squad has contributed the same goal total of four, even with at least 10 men on the pitch for over 630 minutes of game time (Jack Stephens saw red against Manchester United in the 79th minute).

Miraculously, Saints are not rooted to the bottom of the table, thanks to Wolves' inability to keep the ball out of the net. Still, things don't look good for the team with the worst xG in the league (-6.08), and the fact that super-sub Duran has the same number of actual goals as them is pretty embarrassing.

Nearly a Third of Brentford's Goals Have Come in the First Two Minutes of a Game

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Brentford is on a frankly silly run of goalscoring form, having found the back of the net in the first two minutes in four consecutive games.

Before Saturday's victory over Wolves, the Bees scored in the first minute in three consecutive contests, becoming the first Premier League side in history to do so, according to OptaJoe.

For fans of numbers, that means 30.7 percent of Brentford's total of 13 Premier League goals have been scored before the game clock has reached three minutes.

To rub further salt in Southampton's wounds, that also means Brentford have scored as many as Saints in the span of five minutes as the south-coast club has scored in over 630.

Teams should be getting wise to the Bees' fast and furious starts, either keeping possession for the opening few minutes or not being quite so open positionally after kick-off. If it's any comfort, Brentford have only won one of those four games when they bagged in blisteringly quick time.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin Is Leading the Way in Successful Aerial Duels

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In a stat that might be surprising to everyone but Everton fans who watch the glories of Dyche-ball every week, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has won the most aerial duels in the league this season, according to WhoScored.com.

The Toffees striker has won 35 headers, compared to the 30 won by Liverpool center back Virgil van Dijk in second and perhaps the also surprising 28 from Arsenal forward Kai Havertz in third.

That has only resulted in one headed goal, though, and Everton fans would love to see more hitting the back of the net in a season that has been a struggle so far. While goals aren't always the desired outcome of Calvert-Lewin's aerial prowess—he often acts as a target man for others to play off—it certainly wouldn't hurt for him to grab a few more.

That DCL has also lost the most headers (36) points to how often Everton utilize this approach. In fact, the 71 aerial duels he has been involved in are close to double what Van Dijk has contested (41).

   

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