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EPL stats: Liverpool on brink of history and how 2018 was for your club

  /  autty

Premier League football is over in 2018 but it's been a memorable year for league leaders Liverpool, who are chasing their first title in 28 years.

Records were broken, history was made and plenty of goals were scored.

But who has had a year to forget and who has had one to cherish? Why is this Liverpool's best chance of winning the Premier League and what is Fulham's unusual seven-year record?

Here's all the best stats from another year-ending round of fixtures.

Liverpool's year to win it?

Liverpool move into the new year seven points ahead at the top of the table and no team has ever been seven points or more clear on New Year's Day and not gone on to win the title.

Twice teams have been five points clear and finished second, but that is the biggest lead that has slipped at this stage.

The Reds' haul of 54 points is their best return at this stage of any season by a margin of four points and, even more impressively, it is the third-best return at this stage in top-flight history.

Liverpool have conceded just eight goals - the fewest they have ever let in after 20 games - and it is only the third time in their history they have not lost a game at this stage.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola even said the league leaders could be the "best team in the world right now".

Everything points in the direction of title success in 2019 and with Liverpool becoming the first team to win seven league games in December, they end this year on a high.

December - a month to forget for some

While Liverpool's December was a successful month, it was one to forget for a few.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford conceded 15 goals in the Premier League in December, as many as he had in August, September, October and November.

Huddersfield lost all seven of their Premier League matches - the first team to do so in a single calendar month since Leicester lost seven in April 2001.

United rejuvenated under Solskjaer

Manchester United's win against Bournemouth was their third in a row - the first time they have achieved that since April. It means interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer becomes just the third United boss to win his first three games (after Sir Matt Busby and Jose Mourinho).

Solskjaer's team have scored 12 goals in three games. They also scored four goals twice in eight days - the previous two four-goal performances came over a period exceeding 12 months.

Two United goals under Solskjaer's reign have come inside the first five minutes. That was achieved only twice in 24 games with former boss Mourinho.

Solskjaer is also starting to get the best out of World Cup winner and £89m midfielder Paul Pogba.

The Frenchman has scored four goals in his three Premier League appearances under the Norwegian - as many as he had in his previous 20 under Mourinho - which moves him level with Anthony Martial as the club's top scorer in all competitions (nine).

Fulham's unusual record continues

Every football fan wants to see goals and Fulham never disappoint.

Their last 158 home matches in the Premier League have failed to remain goalless - a run stretching back seven years to a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa on 13 August 2011.

During that time, Fulham have been relegated from the Premier League, spent four years in the Championship, won a play-off final and been promoted back to the top-flight.

That lengthy record was just seconds away from being broken on Saturday until Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a stoppage-time winner as Fulham secured a priceless victory against bottom side Huddersfield.

Fulham have conceded the most goals this season though (43), so a few clean sheets wouldn't go amiss.

How a 2018 table would look

If the Premier League was a calendar year competition, things would look slightly different based on results in 2018.

Manchester City edge Liverpool at the top on goal difference, while Tottenham fall three points behind in a theoretical table.

Last season's relegated sides West Brom and Stoke, along with this season's second-bottom club Fulham, sit in the three relegation spots in a 23-club list.

Liverpool recorded the most clean sheets (20) and picked up their best points-per-game ratio in 2018 (88), while Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah (28) scored three more goals than Tottenham's Harry Kane (25).

It was Manchester City who scored the most goals as a team though, picking up a whopping 96 goals - 12 more than Liverpool who were second in the standings with 84.

Despite finishing in seventh place last season, Burnley's start to the 2018-19 campaign has been disappointing and it affects their results across the whole year.

Burnley conceded the most goals in 2018 (63) and had the worst goal difference of any team in the league (-28). But despite currently sitting third bottom in the table, they would be safe from the drop with a 15th-placed finish in the calendar year.

Huddersfield failed to score in 20 Premier League matches during 2018 - more than any other side - and also lost the most games (24), but they sit 18th out of the 23 sides in the table.

All about the youngsters

Two youngsters who had significant ends to the year were Burnley's Dwight McNeil and Southampton's Kayne Ramsay.

McNeil became the first teenager to score a Premier League goal for Sean Dyche's side at the age of 19 years and 38 days.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Ramsay was handed a debut in the 3-1 defeat by Manchester City at St Mary's and was part of the youngest Southampton starting XI for five years.

The players who took to the field had an average age of 24 years and 274 days, which was the youngest since a 1-1 draw with Newcastle in December 2013.

What has 2019 got in store for them?