Awesome Foursomes

After Yakubu scored 4 goals in Round 14 I thought i’d have a look at the impressive achievement. Surprisingly, it’s actually the 27th time that it’s happened. I expected a lot less. Of the 27 occasions, only 7 have been away from home (highlighted on the bottom table) and six other players alongside Yakubu have repeated it a second time.

But what of the opposition that concede the goals? The average opposition that 4 goal hauls are scored against is 13.70th at the time of play. The final position is unsurprisingly lower at 15.64th in the table.

Repeat Achievers:

Of the seven players that have repeated the acheivement, Dimitar Berbatov and Yakubu are the only players to have done it for two different clubs – Spurs & Man Utd, and Portsmouth & Blackburn respectively. Although the averages of 11.5 and 12.5 are quite close (when allowing for a 2 unit average), you have to appreciate the team that each were playing for at the time – in that sense, hats off again to Yakubu.

Robbie Fowler has the highest average opposition per 4 goal salvo, though the average of their final positions are a lowly 16th. Frank Lampard is one of only two Midfield Players who have scored 4 goals in a game (the other being Arshavin though it could be argued he is a forward), and the only to repeat the achievement. Andy Cole actually scored his first batch against a team in 21st place when there were still 22 teams in the league. He’s the flat track bully in this scenario, although it’s still a very impressive feat.

Toughest Opponents:

All Data:

It doesn’t take much analysis to see who the stand out performer of the 4 goal scorers is. Despite Cole, Shearer and Defoe each scoring 5 in one game, the most impressive performance was Andre Arshavin. Not only was it away from home, it was at Anfield and this was a very good Liverpool team that went on to finish 2nd after pushing Man United all the way. Liverpool only conceded 27 goals the whole season, so for Arshavin to score 4 of them in one game, away from home is surely one of, if not the best scoring achievement in the history of the Premier League. To put it in further context, Arshavin only scored 6 league goals that season. He has never been prolific, despite his obvious talent. Unfortunately for Arsenal fans and the neutrals, he’s never lived up to the massive expectations brought about by that 4-4 draw.

A further nod must also go to Mark Viduka who also put 4 past Liverpool. Unlike Arshavin’s, his total was the difference in a 4-3 win for Leeds at Elland Road.

For details of all 27 occasions, click on the bottom table.

Cheers,

Liam