OptaJoe has been hard at work seeking out yet more statistical anomalies from the weekend's action.
Opta's man in the know, OptaJoe, laughed in the face of the 'big freeze' and has been hard at work seeking out yet more statistical anomalies from the weekend's football action and bringing them to the world.
Toffeemen Buck their Trend
Everton collected a point from their match against Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday, and were unlucky not to collect all three.
David Moyes' side managed to score more than one goal in the Premier League meeting with the Gunners for the first time in 15 attempts and it was only the second point that they have won in the last 14 visits to Arsenal in the league.
A special mention should go to Denilson, as the Brazilian scored his fourth goal of the season in all competitions; one more than he managed in the whole of last term.
The midfielder also scored his second goal against Everton in the Premier League and the Toffees are the first side that he has scored more than once in the top-flight against.
All Change Please
After handing in the team sheet for his sides' match with Birmingham City, Alex Ferguson named a different starting line up from the previous game for the 100th consecutive time.
In an amazing contrast, Birmingham City named the same starting line-up for the ninth consecutive league match, and in doing so breaking the Premier League record set by Leeds in April-August 1995 and Southampton October-December 1997 who both named the same starting line up in eight consecutive Premier League games.
In the same period when Birmingham have had 11 starters, United have had almost twice as many (21), with Evra, Rooney and Valencia the only players to start the last nine matches for the reigning champions.
Away Day Blues
Only 24.6% of the matches in the top-flight this season have been won by the away side following the two matches that took place in the Premier League at the weekend.
This is a lower rate than ever before in the Premier League, ahead of the previous low of 25.3% in both 1995/96 and 1998/99.
Last season saw the third highest rate of away wins (28.9%), just behind both 2001/02 (30%) and 2005/06 (29.2%).
It Began in Africa
Optajoe is not restricted to European football, oh no. With Opta analysing each and every move in the African Cup of Nations 2010, Optajoe will be providing some statistical gems from the action in Angola.
Just to whet the appetite, we can tell you that after scoring in the amazing 4-4 draw between Angola and Mali in the opening game of the tournament, Frédéric Kanouté scored in his third African Cup of Nations tournament for the Eagles (2004, 2008, 2010).
The 4-4 draw was also the first eight goal African Cup of Nations finals match since 2004 (Cameroon 5-3 Zimbabwe) and by scoring four goals in the opening 74 minutes of the match, Angola scored as many goals as they managed in their three group games in the 2008 edition.
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