Stat, Viz, Quiz: Man Utd and Spurs Showing Up in Europe ...Middle East

Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at underachieving teams overachieving in Europe. Jamie Vardy’s latest goal, and English team’s simultaneous success.

It’s amazing how quickly football can go from despair to joy, and back again.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have had miserable seasons in the Premier League but are on course to face each other in a major European final. We reveal why their respective underachievement in the league would make history making should both, or even just one of them, complete the job later this week and advance to the Europa League final.

It’s also been a terrible season for Leicester City, with relegation to the Championship for 2025-26 already confirmed. They gave their fans something to cheer about this weekend, though, as Jamie Vardy’s opening goal came after a sensational passing move – one that we take a deeper look at.

As well as our usual quiz, we will also be answering an Ask Opta question around English success in Europe.

If you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe below for free to receive SVQ every Tuesday.

STAT – Eur-Hope-a League

It has caused great debate across Europe. How can two teams sitting in 15th and 16th place in the Premier League both reach the Europa League final, and should they do so this week, would it suggest a lack of balance across the continent?

Of course, neither Man Utd nor Spurs are confirmed finalists yet. They must get the job done this Thursday in their respective second legs, but the English clubs are both in a strong position.

United took full advantage of Dani Vivian’s first-half red card to beat Athletic Club 3-0 in Bilbao, while Spurs secured a 3-1 home victory against Bodø/Glimt. Ange Postecoglou’s men could have a tricky time in Norway, though it should be noted they dominated the first leg in north London, having 24 shots to their opponents’ three.

If they both advance, it would be the first time two English teams have faced off in a Europa League final since Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-0 in 2019, though that season the Blues finished third in the Premier League while the Gunners came fifth.

However, that both Spurs and United have struggled so badly in the Premier League this term yet are thriving in Europe is being seen as proof that the strength of England’s top flight is almost too great compared to the rest of Europe.

It would undoubtedly be notable. In the history of the Europa League (since it’s rebranding from the UEFA Cup in 2009-10), no team that finished lower than 12th in their domestic league have reached the final, while only two finished in the bottom half of their league that same season (Fulham in 2009-10 and Sevilla in 2022-23, both 12th).

In any other campaign, this wouldn’t be a shock. Spurs and United are two of Europe’s biggest clubs with probably the two most expensively assembled squads of all this year’s Europa League participants. So, despite their domestic struggles, it’s not too difficult to see why they have been able to do so well in this competition.

The re-formatted Europa League also no longer sees teams from the Champions League drop down for the knockouts, so theoretically, the overall standard of teams competing in the latter stages is lower than it used to be. However, it should also be noted that none of last season’s four semi-finalists – Atalanta, Marseille, Roma and Bayer Leverkusen – dropped into the competition from the UCL.

Athletic and Bodø/Glimt are both fourth in their respective leagues and will both be hoping to produce dramatic turnarounds on Thursday. But as things stand, it looks like Man Utd and Tottenham will be fighting it out in Bilbao on 21 May to try and paper over difficult seasons with a big shiny major European trophy.

VIZ – Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

This has been a miserable campaign for Leicester City. Already relegated back to the Championship for 2025-26, the Foxes are on course for their worst ever top-flight season.

But the weekend offered the opportunity to face the only team who have been worse than them in the Premier League this season, as they hosted rock-bottom Southampton.

Going into Saturday’s match at the King Power Stadium, Leicester had lost nine successive Premier League home games by an aggregate score of 22-0. Another scoreless performance versus Saints would have seen Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side become just the second team in English top-flight history to go without a goal in 10 successive home league games after Wolves in April 1985.

They ended that dreadful run in style, though. Jamie Vardy, who recently announced he will leave Leicester in the summer after 13 seasons with the club, finished off a sensational passing move to open the scoring.

Vardy’s goal put the finishing touch on a 29-pass move – the second longest goal-ending sequence in the Premier League this season. Only Ethan Nwaneri’s added-time strike against Manchester City on 2 February (36 passes) has seen a longer build-up, but with Arsenal already 4-1 up and the reigning champions seemingly giving up at that stage of the game, it arguably makes Leicester’s goal more impressive.

Furthermore, the Leicester opener against Southampton was also a passing move that started with goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk and involved all 11 Foxes players, with Vardy’s only involvement being the finish. A typical Vardy strike to roll back the years.

It was the first Premier League goal this season that involved all 11 of a team’s players. Curiously, though, the feat was repeated less than 24 hours later.

West Ham’s equaliser against Tottenham on Sunday may have only been preceded by an 18-pass sequence (12 goals have had more in 2024-25), but it also saw every Hammers player on the pitch touch the ball in the build-up before Jarrod Bowen applied the finishing touch.

It seems some really do leave the best for last… well, almost last.

QUIZ – The Premier League Weekend

This week’s quiz will test you on some of the best Opta facts and stats from the weekend’s Premier League action. Answers at the bottom of the page.

1. Manchester United named their youngest ever Premier League starting XI in the game against Brentford. Which player also became the youngest to ever start a PL game for the club in that defeat?

2. There have now been 33 own goals scored in the Premier League this season, but which club have scored the most?

3. Jamie Vardy ended Leicester City’s 826-minute streak without a Premier League home goal against Southampton on Saturday. Before him, who was the last player to net for the Foxes at the King Power Stadium?

4. At the weekend, someone set a new record for most Premier League appearances by a South American player. Who was it?

5. Which Premier League stadium has seen the most goals scored this season in the competition?

Ask Opta

This week’s question comes from Alex Wright, who asks: “With possibly all three European trophies being won by English teams this season, how many times have multiple European competitions been won by teams from England?”

Do you have a stats-based football question you want to Ask Opta? If so, send it to [email protected] and we’ll do our best to provide you with the answer in a future edition of SVQ.

Answer:

Yes, as mentioned earlier in SVQ, it seems almost certain that the Europa League will be won by an English team after Man Utd and Spurs put themselves in strong positions to reach the final. Similarly, Chelsea take a 4-1 lead into their Conference League semi-final second leg against Djurgården, while Arsenal are in the last four of the Champions League – albeit on the end of a 1-0 deficit ahead of their trip to Paris Saint-Germain.

It will be the eighth season in which two major European competitions (excluding the UEFA Super Cup) were won by English clubs if a couple of them can get success over the line.

The first was in 1967-68, when Manchester United became the first English team to win the European Cup. In the same season, Leeds United lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Arsenal won the same competition two years later, while Manchester City claimed the Cup Winners’ Cup. Chelsea then won the latter trophy a year later as Leeds reclaimed the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Ipswich Town won the UEFA Cup in 1980-81, the same year that Liverpool won their third European Cup. The Reds’ fourth arrived three years later, when Spurs lifted the UEFA Cup.

It took another 35 years for it to happen again, when Chelsea won the Europa League in 2019 shortly before Liverpool claimed Champions League success.

The seventh occurrence came in 2022-23 when Manchester City’s first Champions League title was added to by West Ham winning the second edition of the Conference League.

No season has ever seen three European trophies won by English teams, though, which could still happen.

Our Opta data hubs have detailed team and player stats, predictions, expected league tables and much more. Click below to start your own data investigations.

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Quiz Answers

1. Manchester United named their youngest ever Premier League starting XI in the game against Brentford. Which player also became the youngest to ever start a PL game for the club in that defeat?

Chido Obi (17 years, 156 days old)

2. There have now been 33 own goals scored in the Premier League this season, but which club have scored the most?

Tottenham Hotspur (4)

3. Jamie Vardy ended Leicester City’s 826-minute streak without a Premier League home goal against Southampton on Saturday. Before him, who was the last player to net for the Foxes at the King Power Stadium?

Bobby De Cordova-Reid vs Brighton in December

4. At the weekend, someone set a new record for most Premier League appearances by a South American player. Who was it?

Willian, who made his 326th Premier League appearance in Fulham’s defeat to Aston Villa

5. Which Premier League stadium has seen the most goals scored this season in the competition?

Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium – 70 goals scored in total

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