More history for Salah: The Premier League midweek stats and stories you might have missed

Goals were on the menu for the Premier League on Wednesday night.

The first midweek of December is the true start of the festive fixture period, a taster for what’s to come in the month. Wednesday was the busiest night of the week with six games taking place. Four of those were in the earlier 7:30pm slot.

And there were some big matches. League leaders Liverpool travelled to face Newcastle United, Manchester City hosted Nottingham Forest and Chelsea took on Southampton. Everton also welcomed Wolves in a game that outperformed expectations.

Across the four games alone, there were 19 goals scored, with two seeing six goals. With so much going on, even with the broadcast options, it can be easy to miss action.

So we’re here for you. Here are the stats and stories you might have missed.

Mohamed Salah

There is absolutely no stopping Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian remains at the peak of his powers, and his using them at the right time to remind Liverpool of what they’re potentially letting go. Salah’s contract is up in the summer, and he hinted that he could be closer to leaving than he is staying.

Well, Liverpool absolutely need him to stay. Salah was directly involved in all three goals for Liverpool against Newcastle, scoring two and providing an assist. It’s the 37th time Salah has both scored and assisted in a single Premier League game, more than any other player in the competition’s history. Wayne Rooney held the previous record of 36.

We shouldn’t be surprised either. Salah loves playing against Newcastle. He has now been directly involved in 17 goals in his last 14 Premier League games against the Magpies.

Overall, Salah has also scored in each of last seven Premier League games. It’s a run that has helped the Egyptian overtake Erling Haaland as the Premier League’s top scorer this season.

Kevin De Bruyne shows his class

There was a lot of discussion about the reason behind Man City’s terrible run of results. A lot of people put it down to Rodri’s absence from the midfield finally catching up with them.

But maybe Kevin De Bruyne’s absence was also costly. The Belgian missed five league games due to injury, returning to the bench at the start of the losing run. Across Man City’s past four Premier League games, De Bruyne played a total of 43 minutes.

He was finally given a start against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, and highlighted just how important he is as a starter. The Belgian was directly involved in two goals at the Etihad, assisting Bernardo Silva’s opener before making it 2-0.

De Bruyne has a knack for scoring and assisting in the same game in the Premier League. In seven of the last eight league games De Bruyne has scored in, he’s also provided an assist.

Man City are unbeaten in each of their past 31 Premier League games in which De Bruyne has started. That’s no coincidence.

Enzo Fernandez’s creative streak

It wasn’t too long ago that people were discussing Enzo Fernandez’s future at Chelsea. He looked to have been relegated to Chelsea’s Europa Conference League team. Now, he looks vital in their midfield.

The Argentine has been flexing his creative muscles and now leads Chelsea players for assists across all competitions, at seven. Six of those assists have come in Fernandez’s last five appearances for Chelsea.

The run started with a hat-trick of assists in the Europa Conference League against Noah, though you could be forgiven for turning your nose up at that. But just a few days later he set up Pedro Neto’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

A goal and an assist followed against Leicester City, before he set up Axel Disasi’s opener in the win over Southampton. He even squeezed a goal in against Aston Villa at the weekend.

Southampton architects of their own downfall

Although Chelsea took an early lead against Southampton, Russell Martin’s side looked good. They had their chances and were deserving of their equaliser through Joe Aribo.

Saints fans will have been hoping for their side to build on the momentum of the equaliser. But then they fell behind thanks to their worst enemy. Themselves.

Chelsea’s second goal came thanks to Southampton’s insistence on playing out from the ball. An errant pass from goalkeeper Joe Lumley gave the ball back to Chelsea, with Christopher Nkunku putting the ball in the empty net.

Southampton have now made nine errors leading to goals in the Premier League this season, the most of any club in Europe’s top five leagues. In the Premier League alone, they have four more errors than any other club.

If that doesn’t sum up Southampton’s season, how about this? Southampton are the first side on record to complete as many as 91.9% of their passes in the first half of a Premier League game and concede three goals. Maybe it’s time for a change of tactics.

Cole Palmer joins Chelsea legend

Chelsea were in cruise control when Southampton went down to 10 men after Jack Stephens was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair. It was 3-1 to Chelsea at the time, and the Blues only scored one more goal in the match.

That goal came in the final 15 minutes with Cole Palmer channelling his inner David Nugent, smashing a ball over the line that was already on its way in. A man desperate to get on the scoresheet, Palmer has now been directly involved in 36 Premier League goals in 2024. No Chelsea player has been directly involved in more in a single calendar year, with Palmer joining Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink who recorded 36 in 2001.

Anthony Gordon: Big Six Bane

Although Newcastle had to salvage a point against Liverpool, Anthony Gordon remains the scourge of the Premier League’s Big Six.

The Englishman thrives for the big occasions, and always looks to leave with something. He’s now played 10 Premier League games against the so-called Big Six at St James’ Park. Gordon has been directly involved in goal in nine of those matches.

Gordon put Newcastle 2-1 up on the night against Liverpool, his second goal in this fixture — having also scored in last season’s match at St James’ Park.

Young reaches milestone

Everton were in dreamland against Wolves, scoring three goal sin a Premier League game for the first time in almost a year.

Ashley Young got Everton up and running with a milestone goal. The Englishman scored his 50th Premier League goal, being the oldest player to reach this milestone in the competition’s history, aged 39 years and 148 days.

The goal came through direct free-kick, curled into the bottom right corner which will see questions asked about the wall and goalkeeping. But Young won’t care, as he was also the oldest ever player to score a direct free-kick in the Premier League.

Wolves defence crumbles again

At the weekend, Wolves lost 4-2 to Bournemouth and gave away three penalties. On Wednesday, they decided to shake things up.

Everton were well worth their win, looking confident against Wolves with a 2-0 lead at half-time. But they were helped over the line by two second-half own goals.

Craig Dawson scored both of them, making him just the fifth player to score two own goals in a single Premier League game. He joins Wout Faes, Jamie Carragher, Michael Proctor and Jonathan Walters.

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