New Year's Day stats: Premier League facts and figures

Who ran the most? Who created most chances? Who made the most mistakes?

We look at all the Premier League action to pick out the key performers from the New Year's Day fixtures according to the numbers...

Goals

Ryan Shawcross scored the first Premier League goal of 2015 before Steven Gerrard became the first player to bag a brace – both of them from the penalty spot. Despite scoring 11 penalties in all competitions for Liverpool in 2014, those goals doubled his Premier League tally for the season.

Gerrard was not out on his own for long though. Harry Kane scored twice in the late kick-off at White Hart Lane to continue in the vein he had finished 2014, having scored in four consecutive games in December. His goals were decisive in Tottenham’s spectacular 5-3 win over leaders Chelsea.

Creativity

Carlos Sanchez notched up 100 completed passes for Aston Villa but creativity was far from evident in his team’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace at Villa Park. Sanchez’s side remain the lowest scorers in the country. More impressive was Yaya Toure with 106 successful passes and a glorious goal in Manchester City’s 3-2 win over Sunderland.

City team-mates Fernandinho – 95 of 97 passes completed – and Samir Nasri (87) were not far behind and each man created five chances too so it was not just sterile domination from the champions. But the most creative player on New Year’s Day according to the stats was Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic who fashioned six openings, largely thanks to his expert free-kick delivery.

Running

Mame Biram Diouf realised early on that the conditions at Stoke would allow him to put the Manchester United defence under pressure and he finished up as the day’s top sprinter with 83 high-intensity runs at the Britannia Stadium. His only regret will be that he could not convert the effort into goals, spurning an excellent chance to score after pressing Jonny Evans.

Burnley’s George Boyd did get on the scoresheet, netting a late equaliser against Newcastle, and was only just behind Diouf with 82 sprints of his own. Even more remarkably, his 13.55 kilometres of running is among the greatest distances covered by a player in the Premier League all season. Team-mate Scott Arfield was not far behind with 12.85 kilometres and 77 sprints to his name.

Defending

Cesar Azpilicueta became only the fourth player to make 10 tackles in a Premier League game this season but the Chelsea defender’s efforts could not stop his side conceding five at Spurs. Leicester’s combative performance at Liverpool was rather more successful with nobody making more interceptions than Danny Simpson and Marcin Wasilewski with five apiece.

But the stand-out statistics from a defensive point of view came from two Swansea defenders in a backs-to-the-wall effort at Queens Park Rangers. Faced with a bombardment in the direction of Bobby Zamora, Federico Fernandez (27) and Ashley Williams (21) achieved two of the five highest totals of clearances by individuals in a Premier League match so far this season.

Goalkeeping

Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny became only the second player to make two errors leading to a goal in a Premier League game so far this season. Something must come over goalkeepers at St Mary’s as the only other player to do that was Sunderland’s ex-Arsenal man Vito Mannone at the same ground. Szczesny’s errors were costly too as his side was beaten 2-0 by the Saints.

The contrast with Fraser Forster was marked as the England player made six saves – a New Year’s Day high – in the same game. Only two performances this season have seen a home 'keeper make more saves. On both occasions it proved crucial with David de Gea's heroics helping Manchester United beat Liverpool and Brad Guzan’s Aston Villa getting a draw against the Red Devils.