Feature

No 1 completes a ton

Behind the Numbers

This week our statistician looks at Wojciech Szczesny's first 100 Premier League appearances.

On Saturday, Wojciech Szczesny became the fourth Arsenal goalkeeper to make a century of Premier League appearances, marking the occasion with a clean sheet.

The Pole is the 43rd player overall to reach 100 Premier League outings for the Club, and joins David Seaman (325), Jens Lehmann (148) and Manuel Almunia (109) as the other goalkeepers on the list.

"No one has played more minutes for Arsenal since Szczesny made his debut"

He made his league debut, aged just 20, on December 13, 2010 - a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Szczesny has started each of his 100 games, and hasn't been subbed off once, meaning he has played 9,000 minutes of Premier League action.

He has missed just 20 league games since making his debut, and has therefore been on the pitch for 83 per cent of the available time. In fact no one has played more minutes for Arsenal since he made his debut.

Szczesny has kept 39 clean sheets so far in his Premier League career, and made 266 saves, of which exactly half were from shots outside the area.

Also according to Opta stats, Szczesny has a 70.5 save percentage from shots faced in the Premier League - broken down to 59.2 per cent for shots in the area and 86.9 per cent for shots from outside the box. He has made 113 catches, 64 punches and just seven drops. He has saved four out of 17 penalties faced.

100 Premier League apps - By position

Only Ali Al-Habsi has faced more penalties than Szczesny in the same time frame (21) and only Joe Hart has kept more clean sheets (but has played 12 more games).

Arsenal have conceded 111 goals in Szczesny's 100 games and the Gunners' record in that time is W57 D22 L21, for an average of 1.93 points per game.
In the 20 games he's missed since his debut, Arsenal have taken 1.85 points per game.

Szczesny is one of 59 goalkeepers in Premier League history to play at least 100 games; David James leads the way with 572. Among these 59 goalies, Szczesny is in eighth in terms of clean-sheet percentage - Seaman and Almunia also appear in the top 10.

Szczesny is the first Pole to reach 100 Premier League games for Arsenal – the 17th different nationality on the list. At 23 years and nine months old he is also the ninth youngest to the landmark and, by some distance, the Lehmann was 36 years and five months at the time of his century, Almunia was 32 and 11 months, and Seaman was 31 years and five months - though he did already have a number of Division One appearances to his name.

Wojciech Szczesny's Premier League stats

Games 100
Minutes played 9,000
Clean sheets 39
Goals conceded 111
Goals conceded in box 91
Goals conceded outside box 20
Saves  266
Saves outside box 133
Save percentage 70.5
Save percentage in box  59.2
Save percentage outside box  86.9
Games won  57
Catches  113
Punches  64
Drops  7
Penalties faced 17
Penalties saved  4
Yellow cards  6
Touches 3,802

Clean sheet ratios for Premier League goalkeepers (minimum 100 games)

Player Played Clean sheets Clean sheet %
Petr Cech 314 150 47.77%
Jose Reina 285 134 47.02%
Edwin van der Sar 313 132 42.17%
Peter Schmeichel  310 128 41.29%
David Seaman 344 140 40.7% 
Carlo Cudicini 161 64 39.75%
Manuel Almunia  109 43 39.45%
Wojciech Szczesny 100 39 39%
Jerzy Dudek 127 49 38.58%
Joe Hart 215 82 38.14

 

100 Premier League apps - By nationality

100 Premier League apps - By nationality

 

 After Almunia's departure, Szczesny was given the No 1 jersey at the beginning of the 2012/13 season, and has played 47 times since then. This provides us with a useful point at which to dissect his Premier League career and compare the first and second parts, to witness his improvement over the past year and a half or so.

Since taking the No 1 shirt, Szczesny's clean-sheet ratio has improved to one every 2.35 games (compared to one in 2.79 previously) while his save percentage has risen from 65.1 per cent to 76.2 per cent. 

He has conceded 0.91 goals per game as the official No 1, compared to 1.28 goals per game before that. His handling of long shots has notably improved - from an 80.7 per cent save percentage from shots outside the area pre-August 2012, to 91.2 per cent in the past season and a half.

Arsenal players with 100 Premier League games

Player PL apps Date of 100th appearance Age (to nearest month) at 100th appearance
Ray Parlour 333 May 5, 1996 23 years, 2 months
David Seaman 325 Feb 11, 1995 31 years, 5 months
Dennis Bergkamp 315 Oct 25, 1998 29 years, 6 months 
Martin Keown 310 Jan 13, 1996 29 years, 8 months
Lee Dixon 305 May 4, 1995 31 years, 2 months
Patrick Vieira 279 Aug 10, 1999 23 years, 2 months 
Nigel Winterburn 270  Apr 17, 1995 31 years, 4 months 
Thierry Henry 258 Aug 18, 2002 25 years 
Tony Adams 255 Aug 26, 1995 28 years, 11 months 
Kolo Toure 225 Aug 21, 2005 24 years, 5 months 
Freddie Ljunberg 216 Oct 19, 2002 25 years, 6 months 
Cesc Fabregas 212 Apr 9, 2007 19 years, 11 months 
Bacary Sagna 197 Aug 15, 2010 27 years, 6 months 
Robin van Persie 194 Dec 6, 2008 25 years, 4 months 
Theo Walcott 194 Jan 15, 2011 21 years, 10 months 
Ian Wright 191 May 4, 1995 31 years, 6 months 
Robert Pires 189 Nov 30, 2003 30 years, 1 month
Gael Clichy 187 Aug 16, 2008 23 years, 1 month 
Steve Bould  175 Aug 17, 1996 33 years, 9 months 
Gilberto 170 Feb 1, 2006 29 years, 4 months 
Paul Merson 160 Oct 21, 1995 27 years, 7 months 
Lauren 159 Apr 25, 2004 27 years, 3 months 
Ashley Cole 156 Feb 10, 2004 23 years, 2 months 
Jens Lehmann 148 Apr 15, 2006 36 years, 5 months 
Sol Campbell 146 Sept 25, 2004 30 years
Tomas Rosicky 141 Dec 31, 2011 31 years, 3 months 
Alex Song 138 Apr 20, 2011 23 years, 8 months 
Emmanuel Eboue 132 Sep 26, 2009 26 years, 4 months
Abou Diaby 123 Dec 27, 2010 24 years, 8 months 
Aaron Ramsey 122 Apr 20, 2013 22 years, 4 months 
Kanu 119 Oct 6, 2002 26 years, 2 months 
Mathieu Flamini 119 Mar 23, 2008 24 years, 1 month 
Gilles Grimandi 114 Dec 15, 2001 31 years, 1 month 
Manuel Almunia  109 Apr 3, 2010 32 years, 11 months 
Laurent Koscienly 107 Nov 30, 2013 28 years, 2 months 
Nicklas Bendtner 107 Oct 6, 2013 25 years, 9 months 
Sylvain Wiltord 106 Sep 26, 2003 29 years, 5 months 
Andrey Arshavin 105 Oct 20, 2012 31 years, 5 months 
Emmanuel Adebayor 104 Feb 8, 2009 25 years
Thomas Vermaelen 103 Dec 14, 2013 28 years, 1 month 
William Gallas 101 Feb 7, 2010 32 years, 6 months 
Marc Overmars 100 May 9, 2000 27 years, 2 months 
Wojciech Szczesny 100 Jan 18, 2014 23 years, 9 months  

 

Premier League clean sheets 2013/14

Premier League clean sheets 2013/14

 

Szczesny's appearance against Fulham on Saturday was his 28th consecutive Premier League game, a run stretching back to April 16, 2013.

His period out of the starting XI just prior to that (he missed four league games while Lukasz Fabianski took over in goal) seems to have benefited Szczesny.

"Arsenal have a better rate of clean sheets than in any of the Club's previous 12 seasons"

His save percentage for the 28 games since is 79.4 per cent, better than any other Premier League keeper who has played more than once over the same timescale. He's conceded just 21 goals in those 28 matches, keeping 14 clean sheets.

Ten of those clean sheets have come this season, which is more than any other side have kept in the Premier League in 2013/14.

It means Arsenal have stopped the opposition scoring in 45 per cent of matches so far this term, a better rate of clean sheets than in any of the Club's previous 12 seasons.

The game against Fulham was also Arsenal's 200th London derby in the Premier League, and their 104th win over opposition from the capital.

The overall record is W104, D55, L41, F340, A190.

Arsenal have averaged more points per game (1.84) from London derbies than any other team, have won more games and scored more goals.

 

Premier League clean sheets by season

Premier League clean sheets by season

 

Stats correct as at January 21, 2014

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