Sheffield United’s 4-2 defeat to Manchester United means they have conceded the most goals ever in a 38-game Premier League season.
The Blades could still threaten the unwanted record set in 42 games and here the PA news agency looks at how their defensive record compares to the worst in the top flight’s modern era.
Tale of woe
United have won only three of their 34 league games this season to prop up the table on 16 points and could be relegated as soon as this weekend.
Back-to-back defeats conceding four goals, with the Old Trafford game coming on the back of a 4-1 loss to Burnley, have left them on the brink but are far from their heaviest losses of the season – or even to the Clarets after December’s 5-0 rout at Turf Moor.
They have also lost 5-0 to Aston Villa, Brighton and Arsenal, with the Gunners additionally beating them 6-0 last month, while they were most memorably thumped 8-0 by Newcastle in September.
They are only the third team in Premier League history to concede five goals or more on six occasions in the same season and are keeping dangerous company in that category.
Derby’s 11-point season in 2007-08 lives on in Premier League history – their record low points total was accompanied by the worst ever goal difference, -69, while the 89 goals they conceded was the record for a 38-game season until the Blades hit 92 with Wednesday night’s loss. Derby lost 6-2 and 5-0 to Arsenal, 6-0 to Liverpool and Aston Villa, 5-0 to West Ham and 6-1 at Chelsea.
Chris Wilder’s side are only eight goals away from being the second Premier League team to concede 100 in a season, after Swindon in 42 games in 1993-94. The Robins lost 5-0 to Liverpool and Villa, 5-1 at Southampton, 6-2 at Everton and 7-1 at Newcastle. Ipswich conceded 93 in 42 games in 1994-95.
United’s average of 2.71 goals conceded per game has them on course for a record 103. Their goal difference, at an average of -1.73 per game, projects to come in just short of Derby’s record at -66.
At less than half a point per game, they need at least four from their remaining four games to avoid becoming the seventh team to finish with less than 20. Sunderland managed just 19 in 2002-03 and 15 in 2005-06, Portsmouth 19 in 2009-10, Villa 17 in 2015-16, Huddersfield 16 in 2018-19 and Derby the record 11.
League record
Ex-Blades defender Harry Maguire’s goal in Wednesday’s game was the 1,085th of the current Premier League season, a record for the 20-team era.
The total now stands at 1,092 and at an average of 3.26 per game the final figure is on course to reach 1,239.
That too would be a record for the whole Premier League era, beating the 1,222 by the 22 teams in the inaugural 1992-93 season.
Blackburn top-scored that season with 68, with Tottenham’s Teddy Sheringham the leading player on 22, while Middlesbrough conceded 75. Oldham played a major role with 63 goals scored and 74 conceded.
Arsenal lead the way this term, scoring 82, with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer tied for the Golden Boot lead on 20 as just three goals separate the top six players.
Last season saw all 20 teams score at least 30 goals for the first time in a decade. That has already been achieved this season and, with at least four games remaining for each team, there is an outside chance of every team reaching 40, with only Burnley (37), Everton (36) and the Blades (33) below that mark.
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