The week in numbers: w/e 12/12/10
December 13, 2010 2 Comments
Amir Khan (image courtesy of Wikipedia)
3 - Amir Khan successfully defended his WBA light-welterweight title for the third time with a narrow but unanimous points victory over Argentina’s Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas.
9 – In his ninth professional fight, Olympic gold medallist James DeGale won the British super-middleweight title with a ninth-round stoppage of Paul Smith.
12 – Arsenal are unbeaten in all 12 Champions League games (10 wins, two draws) in which Andrey Arshavin has played. With the Russian in the side, they beat Partizan Belgrade 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium to qualify for the knockout phase.
498 – A 32nd-minute goal by Pablo Hernandez in Valencia’s 1-1 draw at Old Trafford broke Manchester United‘s streak of 498 minutes without conceding a Champions League goal.
Nick Matthew (image courtesy of Wikipedia)
1 – Nick Matthew became the first Englishman to become World Open squash champion after beating fellow Englishman James Willstrop in the final in Saudi Arabia.
138,000,000 – Value (in pounds) of Qatar Foundation‘s 5½-year shirt sponsorship deal with Barcelona.
2 – After three rounds of pool games in rugby union‘s Heineken Cup, only two out of 24 teams (Northampton and Toulouse) remain unbeaten, while four teams have yet to win a match.
5 – Having trailed 9-5 in the final of snooker‘s UK Championship last night, John Higgins won the last five frames to claim a 10-9 victory over Mark Williams, a month after returning from his six-month ban. He replaces Australian Neil Robertson as world number one.
The Ashes in numbers
43 - Australia lost their last six wickets for just 43 runs as they collapsed to defeat in the second Test in Adelaide by an innings and 71 runs.
100 – This was England‘s 100th Test win over Australia. They have lost 132 and drawn 91.
23 – Years since England last held the lead in an Ashes series in Australia.
225 – Alastair Cook‘s current series average, having scored 67, 235 not out and 148 in his three innings so far.
87.31 – England’s average runs per wicket so far in this series, compared with Australia’s 36.67.
0 – There have been no runs scored by the number eight batsman on either side so far in this series.
The Premier League week in numbers
Alan Pardew (image courtesy of nufc.co.uk)
5½ – Length of contract in years awarded to new Newcastle manager Alan Pardew. The club has had seven managers in the past 5½ years.
10 – Fulham‘s 0-0 draw with Sunderland was their tenth draw in 17 games this season.
0 – Stoke are still yet to record 50% possession in a Premier League game. They lost 0-1 at home to Blackpool.
1 – Liverpool‘s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle means Roy Hodgson has won just one of his last 27 away games in the Premier League.
10 – Andy Carroll‘s late strike was his tenth league goal of the season. Dimitar Berbatov (11) and Carlos Tevez (10) are the only other players to have reached double figures so far this campaign.
3 - Liverpool conceded three goals from just three shots on target. The only other time this feat has been achieved this season was when Manchester City did so against … Liverpool.
Stuart Holden - 88th-minute winner
49 – Time in seconds between Mame Diouf‘s equaliser (86:42) and Stuart Holden‘s winning goal (87:31) in Bolton‘s 2-1 win over Blackburn.
5 – Bolton have scored a goal in the 88th minute or later in five of their last six league home games.
17 – Wolves kept their first Premier League clean sheet of the season (and their first since April) at the 17th attempt, beating Birmingham 1-0.
4 – None of the last four penalties at White Hart Lane in all competitions have been scored, including Didier Drogba‘s effort in yesterday’s 1-1 draw between Tottenham and Chelsea.
6 – All six Premier League goals scored on Sunday were left-footed. Strangely, the same was true for each of the five goals scored the previous Sunday.
The NFL week in numbers
63 – Peyton Manning had his 63rd career 300-yard passing day – tying Dan Marino as the NFL all-time leader in that respect – as the Indianapolis Colts beat the Tennessee Titans 30-28 to snap out of a three-game slump.
Troy Polamalu
5 – Troy Polamalu recorded two more interceptions, including a 45-yard return for a touchdown, as Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati 23-7. The Steelers are 21-3 when he records an interception, and 5-0 this season.
19 – In defeating the Green Bay Packers 7-3, the Detroit Lions snapped a 19-game losing streak in their division. It was their first win in the NFC North since October 2007.
6 - St Louis‘s Steven Jackson passed 1,000 yards for the season in the Rams’ 31-13 defeat to New Orleans, becoming the first player in team history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in six consecutive seasons.
Jay Feely (image courtesy of azcardinals.com)
4 - Arizona kicker Jay Feely became only the fourth kicker since 1950 to score a rushing touchdown, and the first since 2001. The Cardinals thumped the Denver Broncos 43-13 – more conventionally, Feely also kicked five field goals.
5 – The New England Patriots became the first team since at least 1970 with no turnovers in five straight games – and the first team in NFL history with 30-plus points and no turnovers in five straight games – as they demolished the Chicago Bears 36-7 in the snow at Soldier Field.
8 – New England quarterback Tom Brady extended his run of games without an interception to eight.
3 – Seattle‘s Leon Washington registered his third kickoff return touchdown of the season, as the Seahawks lost 40-21 to the San Francisco 49ers. It was his seventh career touchdown from a kick return, one behind Joshua Cribbs’ NFL record.
(Some statistics courtesy of Opta Sports, The Times, @StatManJon, and NFL.com.)
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Hi, Tim. Nice round-up, as usual. Chelsea are in a bit of a rut, eh?
Just to point out, the snooker score was 10-9, not 10-5. I watched the match last night and I was thrilled to see Higgins win in the end. I enjoy Mark Williams playing, too. He’s a laid back character; but I love a good come-back story.
Cheers James. Typo corrected. I blame my proof-reader. Whoever he is … tum-te-tum …
One hell of a game yesterday afternoon. Chelsea are a brilliant example of how fragile form and confidence are, and how idiotic certain sections of the media and fan community were in prematurely declaring this season a battle for second place while we were still in the first quarter of the campaign.
Tonight should be interesting, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it drifted into stalemate. Not a must-win for either side – I’d say a draw suits both teams just fine – and both will feel confident of being able to pick off Chelsea in the next couple of weeks. Despite joining us at the top this weekend, I imagine the Tevez saga is not going to help City’s prospects one iota.