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Boxing Day stats: Facts and figures from Friday's games

West Bromwich Albion's Ben Foster shows his dejection as the snow fall during 3.0 home defeat to Manchester City, during the Barclays Premier League match
Image: Ben Foster battles on in the snow as his West Brom side lost to Man City

Chelsea fans received a late Christmas present, as the Blues produced a dominant display to see off London rivals West Ham in the Sky Live lunchtime kick-off, while there was plenty of drama to follow in the 3pm starts, before 10-man Arsenal defeated QPR.

Here, we take a look a look at the facts and figures from an action-packed afternoon of Boxing Day football.

Boxing Day form

Manchester United almost always deliver on Boxing Day – the Old Trafford side have lost just one of 21 Premier League games they have played on December 26 (W18 D2 L1) and became the first team in English league history to win 50 league games on this date by seeing off Newcastle 3-1.

Tottenham also enjoy the post-Christmas games; Spurs are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League matches on Boxing Day, winning seven, including Friday’s 2-1 success at Leicester. Rivals Arsenal have only ever lost one Premier League match on Boxing Day (W12 D5 L1).

In contrast, Aston Villa have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games played on Boxing Day (W1 D4 L9) and have failed to score in the last four after losing 1-0 at Swansea.

Goals

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John Terry says if Chelsea continue their form it will be tough for anyone to beat them to the title after their 2-0 win against West Ham.

Wayne Rooney was the only player to score twice on Boxing Day, as he helped Manchester United beat Newcastle. John Terry scored for the second game in a row for the first time in eight-and-a-half years to open the scoring against West Ham before team-mate Diego Costa added Chelsea’s second – and his 13th of the campaign - to close to within one goal of Sergio Aguero in the top-scorer charts.

Rooney’s team-mate Robin van Persie continued his hot streak, scoring his fifth in his last six Premier League games – and United’s third – at Old Trafford, while Tottenham’s Harry Kane has now scored in four games in a row after netting against Leicester – his 15th in all competitions this term, a tally only Aguero (19) beats in the Premier League.

Alexis Sanchez (10 goals, six assists) has scored or assisted half of Arsenal’s 32 Premier League goals this season, while one of his opponents on Friday, Charlie Austin, has now scored 10 goals in his last nine Premier League games for QPR.

Papiss Cisse’s penalty against Manchester United may have been too little too late for Newcastle, but it was his league-high fifth from the bench this term, while Adam Johnson netted the second-fastest goal in the Premier League this season with Sunderland’s opener after 30 seconds. Peter Crouch’s 19-second strike against Arsenal still holds that record.

Manchester City are the only Premier League team to score in each of their away games this season and have equalled their all-time record of nine-straight wins in all competitions, while wayward Burnley had 16 shots against Liverpool but not one on target.

Creativity

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Ronald Koeman felt Southampton controlled the game at Selhurst Park for long spells of the game.

Adam Armstrong – the first 17-year-old to start for Newcastle in the Premier League – may have only made nine passes at Old Trafford but completed 100 per cent of them, two of which were ‘key passes’ leading to efforts on goal.

James Ward-Prowse made two assists in Southampton’s 3-1 at Crystal Palace – the first time he’s done that in a game – which means he’s already made twice as many assists this season (four) as he has in the previous two seasons.

Liverpool’s pass completion of 75% was their lowest in a Premier League game this season.

Running

When it comes down to running off any Christmas excesses, Burnley’s George Boyd tops the table. The midfielder covered a remarkable 13.11km in his side’s 1-0 defeat by Liverpool. Tottenham’s attacking tandem of Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela also put in solid stints for Spurs, running 12.86km and 12.5km respectively at Leicester – the second and fifth highest totals in the Premier League on Boxing Day.

Arsenal’s Mathieu Flamini was third after covering 12.81km, Everton’s Steven Naismith fourth with 12.56km, closely followed by Lamela, Burnley’s Scott Arfield (12.49km) and Naismith’s team-mate Gareth Barry (12.35km) – who became the first Premier League player to receive 100 yellow cards on Friday.

Goalkeeping

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Mark Hughes felt Stoke got their tactics right at Goodison Park and punished Everton on the break.

West Ham’s Adrian was the busiest goalkeeper on Boxing Day, but, despite his seven saves, the Hammers lost 2-0 to local rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Credit must go to Asmir Begovic, who pulled off four stops as Stoke held on to beat Everton in the longest game of the season – the contest at Goodison Park finally ended after 106 minutes and two seconds.

Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris frustrated bottom-of-the-table Leicester with five saves as Spurs ran out 2-1 winners, while interestingly at Old Trafford David de Gea (three) made two more saves than his opposite number Jak Alnwick, despite the hosts winning 3-1.

QPR have lost all nine Premier League away games this season, but Rob Green can at least take some comfort from the fact he managed to save a penalty in the top flight for the first time since November 2010 by denying Alexis Sanchez from 12 yards. 

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