Seven things you might have missed from the Premier League as Haaland makes more history | OneFootball

Gameweek 29 of the 2024-25 Premier League season is a slightly smaller one, with eight games.

But five of those games took place on Saturday, with four in the traditional 3pm kick-off. An appetiser for Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest were both involved from the top-four battle, facing Brighton and Hove Albion and Ipswich Town respectively.

There was also a battle at the bottom of the table with Wolverhampton Wanderers taking on Southampton in game that may go some way in deciding relegation. Elsewhere, Everton hosted West Ham United and Brentford travelled to Bournemouth.

As always, Squawka are here to round up the best stats and stories from Saturday’s Premier League action.

History for Haaland

We’re used to Erling Haaland making history in the Premier League, but it does feel like a while since his last historic moment. All eyes have been on Mohamed Salah this season and the record’s he’s been making. But Haaland is back with a bang.

The Norwegian opened the scoring for Man City in their 2-2 draw with Brighton, converting from the penalty spot after 11 minutes. It brought Haaland up to 100 direct goal involvements in the Premier League, in what was his 94th game.

Haaland is the first ever player to reach 100 goal involvements in the Premier League in under 100 appearances. The previous record was exactly 100 games to reach 100 involvements, previously held by Premier League all-time top scorer Alan Shearer.

The Norwegian has split his 100 direct goal involvements into 84 goals and 16 assists, with only Salah (103) being directly involved in more goals since Haaland joined the Premier League. Haaland is also just the fourth Man City player to reach 100 direct goal involvements in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola.

He joins Kevin De Bruyne (171), Raheem Sterling (125) and Sergio Aguero (103) on that exclusive list. And you’d expect it won’t be long before he’s in the top three.

Problems at the other end

Man City had to settle for a point against Brighton, twice giving up the lead. And conceding goals something fans have had to get used to this season.

The Citizens have now conceded 40 league goals in a single campaign for the first time under Pep Guardiola. Their previous worst defensive record under Guardiola came in his first season in charge, when Man City conceded 39 goals in 2016-17. But, of course, that came after 38 games with Man City securing a third-placed finish.

The season before Guardiola’s arrival, Man City conceded 41 in the league, while their worst defensive record since their promotion in 2002 came in their first two seasons back in the top flight. Man City conceded 54 goals in both 2002-03 and 2003-04, finishing ninth and 16th respectively.

Gabriel who?

When it comes to goalscoring centre-backs in the Premier League this season, everyone looks at Gabriel. And why wouldn’t they? The Brazilian has a knack for netting, particularly from corners.

But Nikola Milenkovic wants to take his crown. And, in fact, Milenkovic has now directly involved in more Premier League goals this season than any other centre-back. He scored Nottingham Forest’s opener against Ipswich and then got an assist just before half time, taking his tally to six.

Four of those have been goals, with left-back Josko Gvardiol (five) the only defender with more Premier League goals this season. All four of Milenkovic’s goals have come from corners too.

Sorry Southampton

Southampton’s time in the Premier League is drawing to a close. They remain on nine points after 29 games, now 17 points from safety.

Saints have been poor as a whole this season, but at home they’ve been particularly disastrous. A 1-2 defeat to Wolves was Southampton’s ninth consecutive home league loss this season.

Only two teams have lost more consecutive home league games in English top-flight history. Yes, top-flight history, not just the Premier League. The only sides worse than Southampton now are Watford with 11 straight home defeats in 2021-22 and Birmingham, who lost 10 in a row in 1985-86.

Wolves’ efficiency

Wolves’ win over Southampton was crucial in their fight against relegation. Vitor Pereira’s men are now nine points clear of the bottom three and surely counting down the weeks until safety is mathematically secured.

They had their attack to thank for the win over Southampton. But not in the way you might think.

Pereira’s side have just five shots at St Mary’s, with three hitting the target. Jorgen Strand Larsen hit the target twice, naturally, with both his goals while Rayan Ait-Nouri also tested Aaron Ramsdale. Ait-Nouri had two shots altogether, with Joao Gomes the other Wolves player to take a shot.

And five shots for Wolves is the fewest by a winning team to score at least two goals in a Premier League away game since Crystal Palace had four shots in a 0-2 win over Burnley at Turf Moor in November 2023.

West Ham’s impressive record

When a team goes up against a former manager, both sides will dearly want to win, to show they are faring better after the breakup — whether amicable or messy. West Ham are on a good run of proving themselves to be better off.

The Hammers are unbeaten in their last 11 league games against former managers, winning nine and drawing two. The latest result was the draw against David Moyes’ Everton, and looked so close to being another victory for West Ham.

Alan Pardew was the last former West Ham boss to beat the Hammers, winning 3-1 with Crystal Palace in February 2015. The draw, snatched late on by Everton, also continued Graham Potter’s good record against Moyes.

Potter is unbeaten in his eight Premier League meetings with Moyes, though six of those have been draws alongside two wins. Moyes has only faced Pep Guardiola more without ever winning in the Premier League, with that particular run at 13 games.

Wissa taking charge

Yoane Wissa has been a wonderful player for Brentford during his time in the Premier League, and he’s enjoying his best-ever season.

The Congolese forward scored Brentford’s equaliser in their 1-2 win over Bournemouth, his 14th goal of the season. Overall, Wissa has been directly involved in 16 league goals this season, his most in a top-flight campaign for Brentford. He beats the 15 direct goal involvements from last season.

Wissa has also now overtaken Mbeumo for the most away Premier League away goals for Brentford, with his 19th strike on the road. And he’s the first player to score 40 Premier League goals for the Bees.

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