Top 10 things we learned from Chelsea v Aston Villa and Wigan v Newcastle

Published 18:55 02/01/11

Chelsea and Aston Villa shared the spoils in a six goal thriller at Stamford Bridge, while Newcastle ground out another away win at Wigan, but what did we learn from Sunday's football?

1) Goalfest
Phew! What a finish that was! Three goals in the final 10 minutes at Stamford Bridge made Chelsea vs Aston Villa undoubtedly the thriller of the weekend. There were so many late strikes even Bob Crow was getting excited.

2) Oggy oggy oggy!
According to the excellent Infostrada Sports, yesterday's own goal by Birmingham's Roger Johnson was the 600th oggy in the history of the Premier League. After the dreadful run of form Chelsea have been on since he left, that would make Roman Abramovich's sacking of Ray Wilkins about 550th then would it?

3) Here comes the broom
When the team sheets were released and we found out Jeffrey Bruma was starting for Chelsea alongside John Terry in the Chelsea defence, the question on everybody's lips was whether he'd play as a sweeper...

4) Tune in
With just 20 minutes left of the match, the stats showed that Villa were winning a whopping 71 per cent of the aerial battles. Mind you, judging by the boos ringing around Stamford Bridge it half time it didn't sound like Chelsea were getting the best reception.

5) Chelsea stat attack
That is the first time Chelsea have scored more than one goal in a Premier League match since October 30, when they beat Blackburn 2-1 at Ewood Park.

6) Villa stat attack
Aston Villa have not kept a clean sheet away from home in the Premier League since April 2010 versus Hull City.

7) Chant of the day
From the visiting Newcastle fans at the DW Stadium: "They're here, they're there, they're every f***ing where, empty seats, empty seats!" Well we can't all have the 'best fans in the world (TM)', can we?

8) Gis a job
Roy Hodgson was at the DW stadium. Was he subtly trying to put his name in the frame for the Wigan job should Dave Whelan lose patience with Roberto Martinez? Apparently Fergie was there too. Presumably not hawking for jobs though, despite what he said in today's paper.

9) Wigan stat attack
Infostrada Sports tell us that until today, Wigan were unbeaten in all nine previous Premier League home matches against Tyne and Wear opponents Newcastle United and Sunderland.

10) Newcastle stat attack
This is Newcastle United's fourth away win this season, meaning they join Blackpool as the only clubs to win more away games than home matches this term.

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