Tottenham left to chase Premier League record as rivals see scoring runs ended

Brighton and Liverpool both saw their long scoring streaks ended on Sunday, leaving Tottenham to chase the Premier League’s records.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how the trio compare to the best of the Premier League era.

Brighton’s wings finally clipped

A remarkable scoring streak comes to an end

A run to be proud of, @OfficialBHAFC pic.twitter.com/XwWsphpW3b

— Premier League (@premierleague) December 17, 2023

The Seagulls’ 2-0 defeat to Arsenal ended a 32-game scoring run and a Premier League record 20 consecutively in which they had both scored and conceded.

The latter sequence covered every fixture this season and the final four of last term, since their clean sheet in May’s 3-0 win over the Gunners.

The last time they had failed to score was way back in February, a 1-0 defeat at home to Fulham, with that 32-game stretch marking the fourth-longest in the Premier League.

Arsenal themselves hold the record, 55 games from May 2001 to November 2002 which covered the last game of 2000-01, the entirety of their 2001-02 title-winning season and the first 16 games of the following campaign’s second-placed finish, before losing 2-0 to Manchester United who went on to win the league.

United had a scoring run of 36 games from December 2007 to November 2008, matched by Liverpool between March 2019 and February 2020 for a distant second place behind Arsenal, with Brighton next up under impressive manager Roberto De Zerbi.

Brighton scored 66 goals in those 32 games, winning 15 and drawing eight with nine losses.

Spurs left standing

Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by Manchester United in Sunday’s late game to halt their own scoring run at 26 games.

Since another 0-0 in April against Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp’s side had scored 63 goals across 18 wins, seven draws and one defeat before their 34 shots proved insufficient to break down a stubborn United side at Anfield.

That leaves Spurs as the only side whose current scoring streak stretches to double figures, and at 29 games after beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 it ranks joint-fifth in Premier League history.

Manchester City also had a run of 29 between December 2018 and September 2019, before a shock 2-0 home defeat to Wolves, with Spurs losing 1-0 to the same opponents before embarking on their current run.

Beginning in March in Antonio Conte’s penultimate match in charge and continuing through the chaotic end to last season, under the caretaker stewardship of first Cristian Stellini and then Ryan Mason, Spurs have kicked on under new boss Ange Postecoglou this term.

@Richarlison97 @Sonny7 pic.twitter.com/YMCAqG4T8V

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 16, 2023

They have scored 59 goals in the 29 games, with a record of 14 wins, six draws and nine defeats.

Scoring against Everton, Brighton and Bournemouth in their remaining fixtures of 2023 would take them alongside Albion’s 32 in the Premier League list, with the chance to chase down second-placed Liverpool and Man Utd by February’s return fixture with the Seagulls.

After Spurs, the longest current streak belongs to Bournemouth, who had scored in eight straight games prior to Saturday’s fixture against Luton. They also found the net before that match was abandoned.