Do Manchester United get more penalties than other Premier League teams?

23 February 2017 09:57

Manchester United are on the longest run without a penalty of any Premier League club, in contrast to their historical reputation.

Press Association Sport data also shows that after Wigan (scored) and Huddersfield (missed) were finally awarded penalties on Tuesday night, Rotherham are the only remaining club in England's top four divisions without a spot-kick in the league this season.

Here, we look at some of the key facts.

Premier League

  • United have had only one league penalty all season and have now waited 23 games for another to come around. That contrasts sharply with the previous decade - they averaged seven per season in the last seven years of Sir Alex Ferguson's reign, had five in 2013-14 and eight in two seasons under Louis van Gaal.
  • By contrast, United's rivals Manchester City lead the way alongside Tottenham - both teams have had seven league penalties this season and scored five.
  • Liverpool are just one behind and have scored all six. Arsenal have also been awarded six.
  • Aside from United, West Brom are the only other top-flight club with just one spot-kick to their name.
  • The average Premier League club has been awarded 3.9 penalties this season, scoring 3.2. Stoke and West Ham fit that pattern most closely, each scoring three from four.

EFL

  • Reading and Birmingham, with 11 and 10 respectively, are the only teams with double-figure penalty tallies in the league this season.
  • Blues are alongside Brighton for the most penalties scored, with eight. The Seagulls have been awarded nine in all.
  • Reading have missed six of their 11 penalties, but have scored from the rebound on five occasions. After the most recent example, against Fulham last month, manager Jaap Stam responded: "It looks like the players are training like that, for scoring on the rebound. It's a bit stressful."
  • Rotherham's wait for a penalty in a league game stretches back to April 9, when Leon Best converted in a 4-0 win at MK Dons.
  • Millwall lead the way in League One with eight penalties this season, scoring seven.
  • While Bradford have had seven penalties this season and Wimbledon six, they have waited 17 and 12 games respectively since their last opportunity.
  • In League Two, Doncaster and Portsmouth have had eight apiece but scored only five and four respectively. Barnet have scored six of their seven.
  • Nine of the 92 Premier League and EFL teams have been waiting 20 games or more for a league penalty - Rotherham (38), Newcastle (29), Burton (27), Notts County (26), Fleetwood (25), Manchester United and Gillingham (23), Southend (22) and West Brom (20). Of those, Southend have had the most penalties awarded this season with three.
  • While the average of 3.2 goals from penalties holds up across the four divisions, the average penalties awarded rises to 4.3. EFL teams have typically played around 32 games so far, compared to 25 in the Premier League.

Penalties awarded this season/games since last penalty

(Data correct as of February 22)

Premier League

Arsenal 6 penalties/0 games since last penalty

Bournemouth 5/4

Burnley 4/1

Chelsea 3/2

Crystal Palace 5/7

Everton 3/5

Hull 2/10

Leicester 5/12

Liverpool 6/4

Manchester City 7/2

Manchester Utd 1/23

Middlesbrough 2/2

Southampton 3/3

Stoke 4/8

Sunderland 5/5

Swansea 3/10

Tottenham 7/1

Watford 2/7

West Brom 1/20

West Ham 4/8

Championship

Aston Villa 8/5

Barnsley 2/1

Birmingham 10/6

Blackburn 5/5

Brentford 2/3

Brighton 9/1

Bristol City 5/4

Burton 1/27

Cardiff 6/1

Derby 6/2

Fulham 7/5

Huddersfield 1/0

Ipswich 3/11

Leeds 4/6

Newcastle 2/29

Norwich 7/6

Nottingham Forest 7/0

Preston 2/0

QPR 5/16

Reading 11/6

Rotherham 0/38

Sheffield Wednesday 6/6

Wigan 1/0

Wolves 5/2

League One

Bolton 3/6

Bradford 7/17

Bristol Rovers 6/10

Bury 4/2

Charlton 4/18

Chesterfield 4/14

Coventry 1/14

Fleetwood 1/25

Gillingham 2/23

Millwall 8/1

MK Dons 5/6

Northampton 7/1

Oldham 1/6

Oxford 4/2

Peterborough 2/4

Port Vale 5/5

Rochdale 6/8

Scunthorpe 5/4

Sheffield United 4/13

Shrewsbury 6/1

Southend 3/22

Swindon 3/7

Walsall 1/7

Wimbledon 6/12

League Two

Accrington 5/1

Barnet 7/1

Blackpool 3/3

Cambridge 4/0

Carlisle 3/13

Cheltenham 3/0

Colchester 4/1

Crawley 4/0

Crewe 3/1

Doncaster 8/9

Exeter 3/8

Grimsby 5/0

Hartlepool 6/5

Leyton Orient 1/10

Luton 6/5

Mansfield 5/1

Morecambe 7/7

Newport 4/12

Notts Co 2/26

Plymouth 5/2

Portsmouth 8/5

Stevenage 5/1

Wycombe 2/7

Yeovil 2/3

Source: PA-WIRE