Enough about Liverpool’s title charge or the fact Nottingham Forest are in second place. No, it’s time for the unwanted records and awards from the Premier League in 2024.
And just like that, another year is in the books. Liverpool end 2024 top of the Premier League table, eight points clear of Nottingham Forest in second place.
The title is surely Liverpool’s to lose now, while Forest fans can genuinely start dreaming of Champions League football. Despite a slight recent wobble, Chelsea can also be very happy with the progress they’ve made under Enzo Maresca in the second half of this year.
But enough about the feel-good stories. What about those players and teams who enjoyed a slightly less stellar 2024? Whether they want it or not, they deserve a little coverage too, right?
With that in mind, we’re here to run through a very serious and not at all tongue-in-cheek set of unwanted records and accolades for the 2024 calendar year.
Most Shots Without a Goal
It’s been a frustrating year for Brighton’s Julio Enciso. He spent the first few months of 2024 recovering from a serious knee injury suffered at the start of 2023-24, and his time on the pitch was mostly limited to substitute appearances. In 2024-25, he’s been in and out of Fabian Hürzeler squad, starting just twice and coming off the bench a further nine times. There’s even been speculation about the Paraguayan’s future.
In fairness to Enciso, he’s looked to take the initiative whenever he’s been given the opportunity. In Brighton’s recent game against Brentford – Enciso’s first start of the season – he fired in eight shots in the first 39 minutes of the match. No player has attempted more than that across an entire game this season.
The problem for Brighton and their South American was none of them went in.
That’s been a theme for Enciso in 2024; he took the most shots of anyone who didn’t score in the Premier League (44). Let’s hope 2025 brings him some better fortune.
Worst Save Percentage
Wolves goalkeeper Dan Bentley played just 135 minutes of Premier League action in 2024. Across those two matches – a 3-0 defeat to Newcastle and a 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace – he saved just one of the five shots on target he faced, giving him a calendar-low 20% save percentage. But it’s probably a bit harsh to focus on someone who played so infrequently.
What about someone who saw a lot more action? Well, of goalkeepers to make five appearances in 2024, Burnley’s James Trafford (54.4%) had the lowest save percentage. He faced 46 shots on target in 2024 and conceded from 21 of them as Burnley went straight back down to the Championship.
Most Chances Created Without an Assist
Much has been made about Manchester City’s reliance on Rodri. Their performances have fallen off a cliff without their Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder.
We recently analysed seven replacements who they could turn to in January. But in the absence of any fresh blood, one of those players who’s tried valiantly – but somewhat in vain – to fill in for the Spaniard is Mateo Kovacic.
Granted, replacing Rodri is arguably an impossible task. The Croatian has chipped in going forwards, scoring three goals this season. Rather incredibly, that puts him third on City’s goalscoring charts in 2024-25 behind Josko Gvardiol (4) and Erling Haaland (14).
But while he has scored in 2024, Kovacic is yet to register a single assist, despite creating 31 chances (all from open play). That’s the highest number of chances anyone created in the Premier League in 2024 without registering a single assist.
The fact that 18 of those chances have come this season alone offers a small glimpse into just how much City have struggled towards the back end of the year.
Worst Performance Compared to xG
Of ever-present teams in the Premier League in 2024, Everton scored the fewest goals, and it wasn’t even close. The Toffees scored just 31 times, 15 fewer than the next team (Brighton, 46) of those to have played in both 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Those 31 goals came from 42.1 overall expected goals in 2024. Only Bournemouth (-12.5) performed worse in front of goal relative to their underlying numbers than Everton did (-11.1).
While the blame for that can’t solely be pinned on a single player, it did not help that Dominic Calvert-Lewin was the worst culprit individually in terms of missing his chances. The English striker scored just six goals from 10.7 xG, with his xG underperformance -4.7 the biggest negative differential in the entire division.
Keane Lewis-Potter (-4.2) and Cameron Archer (-4.1) ran him close, but in the end Calvert-Lewin topped the list.
Most Cards Without Earning Any Via Fouls
Over the past couple of years, we’ve routinely highlighted at Opta Analyst how cards are on the rise.
While some might assume that means the game is dirtier than ever, that the Premier League is full of unruly delinquents who cannot be tamed, we know that’s not exactly the case.
The football authorities have been clamping down harder on certain offences as they look to eradicate unsporting conduct, referee abuse and time wasting, among other undesirable behaviour.
Sure, fouls remain the primary source of yellow cards for most… but not everyone.
So, we were curious to find out which players have collected the most cards in 2024 without any of them being earned for a foul, handball or persistent infringement. We wanted to weed out and identify the chief mischief makers on the pitch.
Some of the results won’t surprise you. For example, one of the two players with the joint-most Premier League cards in 2024 without any for fouls was Nicolas Jackson. The Chelsea forward has earned himself a bit of a reputation for being an agent of the dark arts, and this very much backs up such an association, with none of his six cards given for fouling or handball.
Level with Jackson is Jordan Pickford. The Everton goalkeeper’s cards have been split 50/50 between dissent and time wasting, which probably won’t shock anyone who watches the Toffees regularly.
Unsurprisingly, there are quite a few goalkeepers who’ve earned 100% of their cards via means other than fouling/handball. Obviously that’s down to goalkeepers generally committing vastly fewer fouls than outfielders.
Time wasting tends to be where goalkeepers get caught out; David Raya picked up all four of his for such transgressions, for instance.
The only other player to earn four or more cards and have none of them given for fouling, persistent infringement or handball was Cole Palmer. Three of his five were for dissent, the other two for time wasting.
Most Games Without a Win
In our recent piece on calendar year records, we mentioned Cameron Archer’s unfortunate and obviously not-at-all-intentional attempt at equalling the record of 25 losses for a player across a Premier League calendar year. Good news, Cameron; it ended at 23.
However, Archer’s former Sheffield United and current Southampton teammate Ben Brereton Díaz has done enough to claim this particular unwanted award, which is for the most Premier League appearances without recording a win in 2024.
The former Blackburn Rovers and Villarreal striker made 24 Premier League appearances this calendar year with the Blades and Saints but was not on the winning side once. That’s not only a record this calendar year, but it’s an all-time Premier League record as well, with his exploits in 2024 taking him above Marvin Sordell.
Brereton Díaz played 14 times in the Premier League in 2024 on loan at Sheffield United before their relegation last season (D4 L10), and has made 10 more for Southampton since his permanent arrival from La Liga in the summer (D2 L8), but did not once experience the sweet taste of victory in 2024.
Ah well, 2025 is a new year bringing new possibilities, Ben.
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