<
>

Premier League stats of the decade: Man City boss the lot

With no more Premier League football left to play this decade, we think the time is right to sit back and take stock of the statistical highlights of the last 10 years.

The Toe Poke Daily is here every day to bring you all the weirdest stories, quirkiest viral content and top trolling that the internet has to offer, all in one place.

JUMP TO: Courtois saves Miami Heat star | Alexander-Arnold's self-inflicted fantasy woe

Facts and figures, leading players and teams plus some numerical quirks to have been coughed up during a rollercoaster decade of top flight action.

1. In the 2010s, a total of 3,803 Premier League matches have been played among 37 different teams, with 10,439 goals scored overall.

2. In terms of the overall table, Man City are top having taken 818 points from 381 games, with Manchester United (747 points from 380 games), Chelsea (740 from 380), Liverpool (710 from 379), Tottenham (703 from 380) and Arsenal (702 from 381) completing the top six.

3. City have won the most games (251), more than they managed in the 2000s and 1990s combined, and also scored the most goals (845),

City also boast an impressive overall goal difference of +503, which is 172 goals higher than Chelsea, who have the next best GD (+ 331) in the 10-year table.

4. Portsmouth are bottom of the table with just 5 points. However, they only played 18 Premier League games over the last decade and also suffered a 9-point deduction for going into administration in 2010.

5. It might not surprise you to learn that Sergio Aguero is the most prolific goal scorer of the 2010s, helping himself to a total of 174 goals -- that's more than the highest scorer in the 2000s (Thierry Henry: 169) and the 1990s (Alan Shearer: 167, from August 1992 onwards).

David Silva has pitched in with the most assists (89), completed passes (18,059) and chances created (768), while Jordan Henderson has amassed the most appearances (308) -- one more than his current Liverpool teammate James Milner.

Gareth Barry has been disciplined most often, attracting 64 yellow cards and three red.

6. Goals have been plentiful in the Premier League, with an average of 2.74 per game -- higher than the 2000s (2.60) and the 1990s (2.61).

Indeed, of Europe's top five leagues, only the German Bundesliga has seen more goals scored on average per game in the last ten years (2.94).

7. Of the 10,439 goals scored in the Premier League since the start of 2010, 7 percent have been penalties. Again, Man City have been the most prolific from the spot, successfully converting 60 of the 75 penalties they were awarded -- more than any other club.

8. Own-goal has enjoyed a productive decade, finding the net a whopping 382 times. The unfortunate front-running OG marksman is Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel, who notched seven.

9. Honours were even in North London, where both Arsenal and Tottenham won exactly the same proportion of their Premier League matches (54%). Only Manchester United (58%), Chelsea (58%) and Man City (66%) won more.

10. Arsenal scored 704 Premier League goals in the 2010s -- the exact same number of league goals that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo scored combined in the same decade.

Indeed, Messi and Ronaldo managed to outscore both Manchester United (688) and Tottenham (657).

11. A total of 1,960 different players have appeared in the Premier League since the start of 2010, with 108 different nationalities taking to the pitch. Only 30% of these players were English, down from 33.7% the previous decade.

12. The new decade of Premier League action will begin on Jan. 1, 2020, when Brighton face Chelsea. Kick-off will come exactly 10,000 days since the Premier League began on Aug. 15 1992.

Courtois saves Miami Heat star

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has been enjoying La Liga's winter break with a trip to the United States. And like any self-respecting football star, he has taken himself off to check out some NBA with the Miami Heat.

However, the Belgium international got more than he bargained for.

Heat star Tyler Herro went flying into the crowd when attempting the keep the ball in play, and Courtois made an outstanding save to stop the player flying further into the seats!

Alexander-Arnold's self-inflicted fantasy woe

Liverpool wing-back Trent Alexander-Arnold must have been delighted after his superb performance in the season-defining 4-0 win at Leicester City on Boxing Day ... until he checked his fantasy team.

TAA, of course, has selected himself in his own fantasy team. And he came out of the Leicester game with a goal and two assists to plunder 24 fantasy points for the week - the most any player has managed all season.

Did he back himself as captain for double points? Oh no ...

"I don't really captain myself too often, because it's unrealistic to get 24 points week in, week out," Alexander-Arnold told the FPL Show. "Sadio [Mane] was captain, he got the assist for my goal, which is always nice.

"Jamie Vardy was my captain. So, obviously, before the deadline I thought, I'm going to have to change that. So I just changed it to Sadio, put him captain and was hoping he'd score a few goals for me.

"It's amazing to have players like that in the team that will get us a lot of points and it's an exciting time to be a Liverpool player."