2GS The Sunday Times December 19, 2021 23

THE PREMIER LEAGUE'S GREATEST TRIO?

With two of the past three European champions, three of the world's best coaches and

an abundance of playing talent, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool are arguably

the highest quality top three in the Premier League's history. And the numbers back that

up — from the simple measures of goals scored, goals conceded and clean sheets, to

the more esoteric measures such as expected goals, this trio lead the way.

(^1) Excluding own goals. All stats Premier League 2021-22, excluding yesterday’s game. Source: Opta
Goals scored
1
2
3
4
5
Liverpool 48
Man City 40
Chelsea 39
West Ham 28
Leicester 27
Passes into the box
1
2
3
4
5
Liverpool 682
Man City 658
Chelsea 566
Aston Villa 501
Burnley 496
=Southampton 496
Shots on target faced
1
2
3
4
5
Man City 36
Liverpool 49
Tot tenham 57
Chelsea 60
Brighton 63
Possession (%)
1
2
3
4
5
Man City 66.4
Liverpool 63.4
Chelsea 59.8
Brighton 56.8
Leeds 55.3
Goals conceded
1
2
3
4
5
Man City 9
Chelsea 12
Liverpool 13
Wolves 14
Brighton 17
=Tottenham 17
Clean sheets
1
3

5
Liverpool 10
= Man City 10
Arsenal 8
Chelsea 8
Tot tenham 6
=Wolves 6
Shots on target
1
2
3
4
5
Man City
123
Liverpool 117
Chelsea 101
Arsenal 85
Man Utd 80
Expected goals
1
2
3
4

Liverpool
42.9
Man City 36.0
Chelsea 32.0
Arsenal 23.8
West Ham 23.8
Goal scorers^1
1
2
3
4

Chelsea 16
Man City 15
Liverpool 13
Aston Villa 12
Brentford 12
= West Ham 12
Touches in opposition box
1
2
3
4
5
Man City 705
Liverpool 681
Chelsea 509
Southampton 426
Arsenal 421
Premier League
LEEDS 1 ARSENAL 4
Raphinha 75 (pen) Martinelli 16, 28
Saka 42, Smith Rowe 84
HT: 0-3. Att: 36,166
Cinch Scottish Premiership
DUNDEE 0 HEARTS 1
Walker 75
HT: 0-0. Att: 5,874
LIVINGSTON 1 ROSS CO 1
Obileye 89 Cancola 45+1
HT: 0-1. Att: 2 ,554
MOTHERWELL 2 ST JOHNSTONE 0
Cornelius 17
Van Veen 55
HT: 1-0. Att: 3,920
RANGERS 1 DUNDEE UTD 0
Tavernier 71 (pen)
HT: 0-0. Att: 49,252
P WD L F A Pts
Rangers 19 15 3 1 41 14 48
Celtic 18 13 2 3 39 11 41
Hearts 19 9 6 4 27 17 33
Motherwell 19 8 4 7 23 26 28
Dundee Utd 19 7 4 8 15 20 25
Aberdeen 18 7 3 8 23 22 24
Hibernian 18 6 5 7 20 21 23
Livingston 19 5 5 9 15 24 20
St Mirren 18 3 9 6 18 29 18
Dundee 19 4 4 11 17 35 16
Ross County 18 3 6 9 24 32 15
St Johnstone 18 3 510 9 20 14
Cinch Scottish Championship
ARBROATH 2 MORTON 1
Hamilton 48 Oliver 74
Dowds 80
HT: 0-0. Att: 1,220
INVERNESS CT 1 HAMILTON 2
Harper 65 Moyo 79, Winter 82
HT: 0-0. Att: 1,862
KILMARNOCK A DUNFERMLINE A
Shaw 3 (pen) Wighton 20
HT: 1-1
Match abandoned — adverse weather
PARTICK 1 RAITH 0
Turner 90+6
HT: 0-0. Att: 2,229
Sent off: Berra (Raith) 61
QUEEN OF SOUTH 3 AYR 0
East 9
Cameron 29
Todd 48
HT: 2-0. Att: 997
PWD L F A Pts
Arbroath 189 7 2 30 14 34
Inverness CT 18 10 4 4 26 14 34
Raith 189 6 3 27 17 33
Partick 189 4 5 30 16 31
Kilmarnock 179 2 6 20 11 29
Hamilton 185 5 8 17 31 20
Queen of South 184 5 9 19 26 17
Ayr 183 6 9 16 32 15
Dunfermline 172 8 7 18 28 14
Morton 182 7 9 16 30 13
League One
Cove Rangers 3 Alloa 0; Dumbarton 2 Peterhead
3; Montrose 1 Queen’s Park 1. Abandoned
(adverse weather): Clyde v Airdrieonians; East
Fife v Falkirk.
League Two
Cowdenbeath 0 Albion 0; Elgin 2 Stenhousemuir
2; Stirling 2 Annan 3; Stranraer 0 Kelty Hearts 4.
PREMIER LEAGUE AND SCOTLAND
Total Home Away
PWD L F A PWD L F A PWD L F A GDPts
1 Man City 17 13 2 2 40 9 9 7 1 1 25 3 8 6 1 1 15 6 31 41
2 Liverpool 17 12 4 1 48 13 9 6 3 0 22 6 8 6 1 1 26 7 35 40
3 Chelsea 17 11 4 2 39 12 9 5 3 1 22 7 8 6 1 1 17 5 27 37
4 Arsenal 18 10 2 6 27 23 9 7 1 1 17 6 9 3 1 5 10 17 4 32
5 West Ham 17 8 4 5 28 21 8 4 2 2 16 12 9 4 2 3 12 9 7 28
6 Man Utd 16 8 3 5 26 24 8 4 1 3 14 13 8 4 2 2 12 11 2 27
7 Tottenham 14 8 1 5 16 17 8 6 0 2 11 8 6 2 1 3 5 9 -1 25
8 Wolverhampton 17 7 3 7 13 14 8 3 1 4 5 7 9 4 2 3 8 7 -1 24
9 Leicester 16 6 4 6 27 27 8 4 1 3 15 12 8 2 3 3 12 15 0 22
10 Aston Villa 17 7 1 9 23 25 8 4 1 3 14 11 9 3 0 6 9 14 -2 22
11 Crystal Palace 17 4 8 5 24 24 9 3 5 1 15 9 8 1 3 4 9 15 0 20
12 Brentford 16 5 5 6 21 22 8 3 1 4 10 10 8 2 4 2 11 12 -1 20
13 Brighton 16 4 8 4 14 17 8 2 3 3 6 9 8 2 5 1 8 8 -3 20
14 Everton 17 5 4 8 21 29 8 4 1 3 13 13 9 1 3 5 8 16 -8 19
15 Southampton 17 3 8 6 16 26 8 2 5 1 8 7 9 1 3 5 8 19 -10 17
16 Leeds 18 3 7 8 18 36 9 2 4 3 10 15 9 1 3 5 8 21 -18 16
17 Watford 16 4 1 11 21 31 8 2 1 5 10 17 8 2 0 6 11 14 -10 13
18 Burnley 15 1 8 6 14 21 7 1 4 2 8 8 8 0 4 4 6 13 -7 11
19 Newcastle 17 1 7 9 18 37 8 1 4 3 12 17 9 0 3 6 6 20 -19 10
20 Norwich 17 2 4 11 8 34 9 1 2 6 5 14 8 1 2 5 3 20 -26 10
PREMIER LEAGUE
WEEK 18
GENERAL RESULTS
BOXING
WBC/IBF Light-heavyweight
Championship (Bell Centre, Montreal):
A Beterbiev (Russ, holder) bt M Browne
(US) ko 9th.
DARTS
William Hill PDC World Championship
(Alexandra Palace, London; England unless
stated): First round R Smith bt J Hughes
3-1; C Rydz bt Y Yamada (Japan) 3-0; M De
Decker (Bel) bt D Labanauskas (Lith) 3-1; A
Hunt bt B Krcmar (Cro) 3-0; J Williams
(Wales) bt T Evetts 3-1; R-J Rodriguez (Aut)
bt N Kenny (Wales) 3-1. Second round I
White bt C Landman (Neth) 3-1.
RUGBY UNION
Heineken Champions Cup
Pool one
Glasgow 22 Exeter 7
P W DL FAB Pts
Racing 92 2 2 0 0 73 14 2 10
Ulster 2 2 0 0 56 45 1 9
Exeter 2 10 1 49 28 1 5
Glasgow 2 10 1 35 27 1 5
Leinster 2 1 0 1 45 48 1 5
Montpellier 2 1 0 1 34 42 1 5
Sale 1 1 0 0 21 13 0 4
La Rochelle 1 1 0 0 20 13 0 4
Clermont 1 0 0 1 23 29 1 1
Northampton 2 0 0 2 36 72 1 1
Bath 1 0 0 1 20 45 0 0
Ospreys 2 0 0 2 13 49 0 0
Pool two
Harlequins 43 Cardiff 17
Munster 19 Castres 13
P W D L F AB Pts
Harlequins 2 2 0 0 63 35 1 9
Munster 2 2 0 0 54 27 1 9
Toulouse 110039 7 1 5
Bristol 1100280 1 5
Connacht 110036 9 1 5
Leicester 1 1 0 0 1613 0 4
Castres 2 0 0 2 31 39 2 2
Bordeaux-B 1 0 0 1 13 16 1 1
Wasps 1 0 0 114 35 0 0
S Francais 1001 9 360 0
Scarlets 1001 0 280 0
Cardiff 2 0 0 2 24 82 0 0
Greene King IPA Championship
Ampthill 20 Nottingham 15
Doncaster 31 Coventry 9
Reds 31 L Scottish 12
National League One
Bishop’s Stortford 19 Cambridge 24;
Cinderford 26 Birmingham Moseley 13;
Sale 21 Caldy 26: Taunton Titans 35
Plymouth Albion 25. League Two: North
Blaydon 19 Tynedale 14; Fylde 40
Chester 10; Hull Ionians 16 Hull 22;
Luctonians 24 Stourbridge 19. South
Barnes 17 Henley 17; Barnstaple 3
Redruth 19; Canterbury 29 Guernsey 17;
Dings Crusaders 23 Clifton 29; Rochford
Hundred 28 Westcliff 17.
Women’s Allianz Premier 15s
DMP Sharks 0 Exeter 88
Loughboro 17 Bristol 14
SNOOKER
Cazoo World Grand Prix (Coventry
Building Society Arena): Semi-finals
(England unless stated): N Robertson
(Aus) bt M Selby 6-3; R O’Sullivan bt
S Bingham 6-2.
TENNIS
Mubadala Championship (Abu Dhabi):
Final A Rublev (Russ) bt A Murray (GB)
6-4 7-6 (7-2).
Full marks to David
Walsh for highlighting
Ruby Walsh’s sensible
and measured
response to the
Bryony Frost/Robbie
Dunne case. Sadly,
that is in sharp
contrast to the almost
complete lack of
support for Frost from
not only the weighing
room, but from other
notable racing figures
including former
champion jockeys AP
McCoy and Richard
Johnson.
Worst of all though,
was the astonishing
and barely credible
comment from Grand
National winning
trainer Venetia
Williams, whom
Dunne occasionally
used to ride for, who
said: “I don’t want to
be saying what’s right
and wrong, it is what
it is.” How’s that for a
reward for having
guts and courage for
standing up to an
unsavoury and
bullying individual?
I truly despair for
Frost, and indeed for
National Hunt racing
itself.
John Peacock,
Northallerton
For the past 60 years I
have followed the
fortunes of the teams
and individual drivers
who complete in
Formula One, the
world’s most
technical sport. Have
I just watched the
extortionate price the
sport has paid in the
interest of television
viewing numbers to
Liberty Media?
I have never
witnessed such a
disgusting, shameful
and embarrassing
display of ineptitude.
If this is the future of
F1, I for one will turn
my interest to other,
more palatable
entertainment.
Alan Crossley,
Co Leitrim
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