The Times - UK (2022-05-02)

the times | Monday May 2 2022 1GG 11

thegame

THE RENAISSANCE MEN

Burnley’s performances this season —

especially in attack — have improved

dramatically in the four matches under

Mike Jackson, as these stats show.

Dyche Jackson

0.83 Goals 1.5

0.3 Goals from set-pieces 0.75

1.1 Expected goals 2

0.39 Expected goal 0.93

from set-pieces

17.2Touches in opposition box 25.8

10.2 Shots 14

38.6 Possession 42.4

Watford’s 11 successive home defeats is

a top-flight record, surpassing the ten

in a row for Sunderland in 2005 and

Birmingham City in 1986.

Spurring each other on

Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane

and Son Heung-min, who were both

on target against Leicester City

yesterday, have joined Liverpool’s

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané as

the only pairs of team-mates to have

scored together in 30 top-flight

games since 1970. Salah and Mané

reached that landmark in February

and are now on 32. The previous duo

to achieve the feat were Geoff Hurst

and Martin Peters for West Ham

United between 1962 and 1970.

Yellow road to ruin

Norwich City and the two favourites

to join them in relegation to the EFL

Championship are the only three

top-flight clubs who play at a Road:

Carrow Road, Vicarage Road and

Elland Road. They are a team in

yellow (Norwich), another team in

yellow (Watford) and a team who on

Saturday equalled the Premier

League record for most yellow cards

in one season (Leeds United; 94).

Spreading the load

Manchester City’s 4-0 win over

Leeds was the 14th match this season

in all competitions in which City

have had at least four different

scorers, more than the combined

number of such cases achieved by

Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester

United, Aston Villa, Brentford,

Brighton & Hove Albion, Burnley,

Crystal Palace, Everton, Leeds,

Newcastle United, Norwich,

Southampton, Watford and

Wolverhampton Wanderers. Nine

different City players scored from

open play over the two games

against Leeds this season, the most

for any team against another in the

Premier League era.

A tale of eight Cities

Norwich’s relegation means the

Championship will have eight teams

named City next season, the first

time any division in league history

has had as many as eight clubs with

the same “added” name — there

have been instances of seven Cities,

seven Uniteds and seven Towns.

Title treble

Wigan Athletic have become the first

champions of the same division three

times within seven seasons

(excluding the top flight), clinching

the third-tier title in 2016, 2018 and

2022. The next fastest such treble
      was by Sheffield Wednesday, who

won the second-tier title three times

in eight seasons in the 1950s.

Arsenal turn it around

Arsenal, who beat West Ham United

yesterday, have recorded three

consecutive league wins against

teams in the top seven for the first

time since 2012 — straight after

losing three in a row to bottom-half

opponents for the first time since

1992. For the second match in four
      days — also against Eintracht
      Frankfurt in the Europa League —
      West Ham fell behind at home and
      were level at 1-1 by half-time but lost
      2-1 to a 54th-minute goal.

Pickford takes his time

In the second half at Goodison Park,

six minutes and one second were

spent waiting for the Everton

goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to restart

play against Chelsea. He took an

average of 50 seconds over goal

kicks, 57 seconds over free kicks and

24 seconds with the ball in his hands.

Goals galore

Saturday had the highest rate of

scoring on one “full” day of League

matches since November 2012: the

3.37 goals per game (128 goals in 38

games) were the highest in a day of

at least 38 matches.

RESILIENT RONALDO

Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, is the oldest to

score 17 goals in a top-flight campaign

since Tom Finney did so 62 years ago in

his final season at Preston North End.

Another Ronaldo goal for Manchester

United against Brentford tonight would

equal the record of Wolverhampton

Wanderers’ Johnny Hancocks for most

goals by a player 37 or over

Most top-flight goals in season when 37

or over* (Aged 37 unless stated)

Johnny Hancocks, Wolves, 1955-56

Tom Finney, Preston, 1959-60 (aged 38)

Cristiano Ronaldo, Man Utd, 2021-22

Ronnie Rooke, Arsenal, 1948-49

Steve Bloomer, Derby, 1912-13 (aged 39)

Billy Hibbert, Bradford City, 1921-22

Teddy Sheringham, Tottenham 2002-03

Les Ferdinand, Leicester, 2003-04

*Had turned 37 by end of season

18

17

17

14

13

13

12

12

Bill Edgar on a Spurs double act

and bizarre déjà vu for West Ham

88

GAME IN

NUMBERS

%

3

4000

11

Bravery and belief. Sometimes that’s
enough, especially when those
qualities are in short supply among
those around you. Jack Cork had both
in abundance on Saturday. He flung
himself at Charlie Taylor’s cross seven
minutes from time for what was not
the most elegant diving header, but it
ended up with the ball in the net and
Cork with his face in the ground —
close to dislocating a shoulder against
Ben Foster’s post.
“I was just hoping Charlie would
over-hit it a little bit and luckily no
one runs with me,” Cork, the Burnley
midfielder, said. “I thought I was
going to smash into the post, but I
didn’t.”
Mike Jackson, the caretaker
manager, gave another example of
Burnley commitment. James
Tarkowski, who is out of contract in
the summer and has had his ups and
downs this season, needed to leave
the team hotel near London on
Friday night to return to Manchester
to deal with a family matter.
“He was really worried. And then
he’s rung me up this morning,”
Jackson said. “A car’s picked him up

and he’s said, ‘I’m ready to go. I want

to play.’ There was nothing wrong

with his daughter, nothing wrong

with his wife. It was just one of those

things that happens to your kids.

Probably everyone’s had this. People

don’t know that, what he’s actually

gone through to get to that game.”

Tarkowski has been seeking a new

club and Jackson wouldn’t say

whether that situation had changed

after the team’s upsurge since Sean

Dyche was sacked. Jackson was also

tight-lipped about his own future,

though he would clearly love the job.

Tarkowski had a stuttering start

against Watford, though the centre

half couldn’t be blamed when Burnley

fell behind after only eight minutes

when Juraj Kucka’s shot rebounded

off the underside of the bar and his

body for an own goal. His team-mates

Sean who? Jackson has Burnley bolder,

braver and looking likelier to beat drop

also struggled in that first half, but

they wrested control after the interval

by committing players forward and

winning most of the duels.

Ashley Barnes made a huge

difference, replacing Wout Weghorst

on the hour mark. Watford were

swept away by Cork’s goal and the

winner from another midfielder, Josh

Brownhill, in the last ten minutes.

The pair now have the princely sum

of three Premier League goals

between them over the past two

seasons.

The fact that holding midfielders

are now scoring for Burnley reflects

the team’s change under Jackson.

They are prepared to commit men

forward, as shown when they went for

the winner after equalising, given

they might have settled for a point

under Dyche.

Watford were there for the taking

though. They dropped too deep in

trying to protect their lead, failed to

close down runners properly and

were reduced to hacking the ball clear

in the final quarter of the game.

Having lost seven of their past eight

league matches, Watford now need to

win their remaining four to have any

chance of staying up.

Ray Lewington carried out the

media duties with Roy Hodgson

under the weather, and the assistant

manager described the situation as

being “grim”.

“We are very nervy, we don’t even

seem to be able to put two halves

together consistently,” he said. “It’s

really disappointing. We wanted to do

something to lift the club out of the

bottom three, but it’s not happened.”

With ten points from four games,

Jackson has amassed more points

than each of the three managers

Watford have individually this season.

“I am sure the owners will look at it

but I am not here to tell them how to

do their job,” Lewington added. Out

of contract at the end of the season,

the assistant said he and Hodgson

would like to stay on — almost

certainly in the Sky Bet

Championship, where Watford will

try to launch another promotion bid.

If Burnley stay up, it would be likely

to mean relegation for either Leeds

United or Everton. “They are two

massive clubs who will pick up points

so we’ve got to be right on it in the

last few games,” Cork added.

Watford

Tarkowski (og) 8^1

RATINGS

Watford (4-3-3): B Foster 8 — K Femenía 6,

C Kabasele 6, Samir 6, H Kamara 5 —

M Sissoko 6, I Louza 5, J Kucka 6 — I Sarr 6,

João Pedro 5, E Dennis 6.

Booked Kucka

Burnley (4-4-2): N Pope 7 — C Roberts 7,

N Collins 7, J Tarkowski 6, C Taylor 8 —

D McNeil 7, J Cork 8, J Brownhill 7, A Lennon 6

(M Lowton, 89min) — W Weghorst 5 (A Barnes

60, 7), M Vydra 7 (D Stephens, 90).

Booked Collins, Tarkowski

Referee C Pawson.

Attendance 20,738.

Burnley

Cork 83, Brownhill 86^2

Foster dives to

deny Barnes

but Burnley

won again for

Jackson, right

ASHLEY WESTERN/COLORSPORT/SHUTTERSTOCK

PAUL ROWAN