The new year brought with it plenty of action amongst top football leagues, with a plethora of surprising results this weekend. Liverpool were held to a draw by Manchester United, but kept their lead atop the Premier League, as both Arsenal and Chelsea drew, while Manchester City romped past West Ham. Real Madrid pulled off a late win over Valencia in LaLiga, while Barcelona and Atletico began the year with victories in the Copa del Rey.
Napoli strolled past Fiorentina to take the Serie A lead, while AC Milan set up a Supercoppa final against rivals Inter after defeating Juventus. Roma won the derby over Lazio to dent their rivals' title hopes. Over in France, PSG defeated Monaco with a late goal to win the Super Cup, while Marseille closed the gap in the league with a 5-1 win over Le Havre.
ESPN's By The Numbers brings you the best of stats from weekend's football matches:
PREMIER LEAGUE
31 and 12
Mo Salah's 31 goal involvements (18G, 13A) in 19 PL games this season are the most by any player ever. Luis Suarez held the record previously, with 30 goal involvements (23G, 7A) from 19 games in the 2013-14 season. Salah has also scored or assisted in 12 consecutive Premier League matches, which is the longest streak in the top 5 leagues this season
5
Mohamed Salah (30) is now fifth in the all-time Premier League list of penalty kick goals. [Alan Shearer 56, Frank Lampard 42, Steven Gerrard 32, Harry Kane 32]
6y 20d
Manchester United ended their PL goal drought (558 minutes) at Anfield with Lisandro Martinez's goal.. The club's previous PL goal at Anfield was 6 years and 20 days ago. It was Martinez's second career goal with Manchester United in all competitions (1st since Jan. 2023 vs Arsenal). He had not scored in 57 consecutive matches, and ended Manchester United's 321 minute goal drought in the Premier League.
1 and 6
Amad Diallo is the first opposing player 22 years or younger to score at Anfield in the Premier League since Aston Villa's Jacob Ramsey in May 2023. This was Diallo's sixth goal this season in all competitions, his second-most in a single season (had 14 with Sunderland in 2022-23)
4
Erling Haaland ended a run of four PL games at home without scoring. This was his longest with Manchester City and tied for his longest since leaving Molde in 2018.
9
Haaland has 9 goals in 6 Premier League games vs West Ham, that is the most by a player vs a single PL club since Haaland joined City in 2022-23 (last 3 seasons).
18
West Ham United have a 18-game winless streak in the Premier League vs Man City, the longest league winless streak vs a single opposition in club history
9/9
Pep Guardiola has won all 9 of his Premier League home games vs West Ham; only Arsène Wenger has a better 100% home win rate against an opponent in the competition (11-0-0 vs Leicester City, 10-0-0 vs Stoke)
10
Arsenal now have a 10-game Premier League unbeaten streak; only Liverpool (14) have had a longer PL unbeaten streak this season.
5
Ethan Nwaneri scored his fifth goal for Arsenal this season (all competitions). Barcelona's Lamine Yamal (6) is the only player 17 years or younger with more goals than him this season among teams from the Top 5 European Leagues. Prior to Nwaneri, the only Arsenal player to have scored at 17 years old or younger was Cesc Fàbregas in 2004 (17 years, 113 days).
8/14
Over half (8) of Joao Pedro's 14 Premier League goals for Brighton have come against the "Big 6" clubs (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United, Tottenham). Only Alexander Isak (12) and Anthony Gordon (10) of Newcastle have more such goals since the start of last season.
35
Cole Palmer scored his 35th career PL goal with Chelsea, the most by any player on the club 22 years or younger. The most in PL history by a player that age are Robbie Fowler (92) and Michael Owen (91)
55
Raúl Jiménez (55) has passed Javier Hernández (53) for most goals by a Mexican player in Premier League history. Jiménez has now scored 10 career Premier League penalty kick goals, becoming the 65th different player with double digit PK goals in the PL (only player from Concacaf region on the list)
LALIGA / COPA DEL REY
1
Real Madrid are the first team in the last 15 LALIGA seasons to win a game after trailing in the 85th minute or later while down a player. The last time Real Madrid won a LALIGA game after trailing in the 85th minute or later while down a player was in May 4, 2008 vs Osasuna, which resulted in Real Madrid clinching its 31st LALIGA title.
94:59
At 94:59, Jude Bellingham's goal is Real Madrid's latest game-winning goal on the road in LALIGA since Cristiano Ronaldo in Sept. 2013 vs Elche (95:24). Bellingham's goal was his fourth LALIGA game winner in the 90th minute-or-later, tying Lionel Messi for the second-most such goals in LALIGA history after Alexander Sorloth (5)
39y 116d
At 39 years, 116 days, Luka Modric broke Ferenc Puskás' club record as oldest Real Madrid scorer in LALIGA
20
Barcelona advanced to the Copa del Rey Round of 16 for the 20th straight season
25
Robert Lewandowski now has 25 goals in 25 games in all competitions this season (scored 26 goals in 49 games in all of last season). This is his 14th consecutive 25-goal season.
6
Munir el Haddadi, has now scored in 6 straight Copa del Rey matches (8 goals in that span) and now has 19 goals in 34 career Copa del Rey games. At the moment, his 6-game scoring streak is the longest active streak in the Copa del Rey.
SERIE A
3-0
Napoli's 3-0 win over Fiorentina was the club's biggest away win in Florence since 2012 (also 3-0). In the last 15 seasons, Napoli have picked up 28 points away to Fiorentina, their fifth-best record against Serie A opposition in that span.
25
Roma scored two goals within the first twenty minutes of their derby victory over Lazio - the first time they have done so in 25 years.
1+1
Alexis Saelemaekers had a goal and assist against Lazio, only the second time he's done so in over 150 Serie A games played.
FRENCH SUPER CUP
11/12
PSG have won the Trophée des Champions for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons, including 3 straight titles. PSG extended the record for most titles (13) by any club in the competition. Before that run, PSG's only Trophée des Champions titles came in 1995-96 and 1998-99.
(Stats courtesy ESPN Stats & Information Group)