Duncan Alexander: Premier League Squad Number Review 2020-21

IT’s been five days since the Premier League season finished and it already feels like a lifetime. There’s the Champions League final this weekend and then the European Championships beginning in two weeks but that sweet, sweet regularity of the Prem is gone, until August anyway. Many reviews and debriefs of the 2020-21 season are already in the can but here’s one that many specialists have been holding out for: Premier League performances by squad number.

Before we begin, let’s make clear that it was so close to being a momentous year for squad number ultras. Not since the early weeks of 1998-99 has a team, namely Charlton Athletic, named a genuine 1-11 starting line-up for a Premier League game. Manchester United and West Brom have used 1-11 in retro kit scenarios, but Charlton, magically, just happened to field 1-11 thanks to the selected players having those squad numbers. Serie A observers and youth team managers claimed it would never happen again but on March 7 this year Tottenham came incredibly close to doing it against Crystal Palace, with only number 27 Lucas Moura instead of Erik Lamela spoiling the party. Lamela even came on as a substitute later in the game, but it still didn’t create a 1-11 situation. Would Mourinho’s legacy at Tottenham be seen in a different light had he sated the rabid traditionalists this way? It’s not for me to say.

 

 

Onto player performance metrics and we’ll start with goalkeepers. It’s heart-warming/old fashioned [delete as applicable] to see the number one shirt leading the way in saves with a monstrous total of 1,465. The next two highest figures are 336 and 175 by number 26 and number 31 respectively. Good solid options for a goalkeeper. Fourth is 11 because of the Rui Patricio gambit. Less traditional but there’s a heart-warming reason why he does it.

 

Wolves have retired the no.1 shirt out of respect for Carl Ikeme.

Rui Patricio will wear the no.11 shirt next season. pic.twitter.com/8C8iS7auY9

— BT Sport Score (@btsportscore) August 10, 2018

 

There’s a traditional look to successful passing too, with the five highest totals being recorded by the squad numbers 5, 6, 3, 2 and 8, in that order. The first non 1-11 number in this category is 16, itself a shirt that has a strong history of midfield pedigree, from Roy Keane to Daniele De Rossi. The Premier League players adding to its history this season were more defensive than midfielders, though, with the likes of Conor Coady, Tosin Adarabioyo and Rob Holding all making more than 1,500 successful passes. And goalkeepers even sneak in there too, with Chelsea’s number 16 Eduoard Mendy passing much like a seasoned midfielder in his excellent debut campaign.

Tradition dominates goalscoring too, with number 9 (146) and number 10 (102) the only squad numbers to reach three figures for goals, followed by 11 and 7. The first non 1-11 number here is number 18 with 48 goals, thanks in large part to number 18 Bruno Fernandes scoring exactly 18 goals. And if you’re wondering whether that’s the highest goals to squad number match in the Premier League this season then yes, it is, followed by Wilfried Zaha (11/11) and then Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino both of whom wear 9 and scored 9.

Nine, ten and eleven are also the squad numbers that saw the most clear cut chances missed this season. Eleven can claim both Timo Werner and Mohamed Salah who missed 18 and 19 of them respectively, although the Liverpool man scored 16 more goals than the Chelsea forward. Nine, ten and eleven are also 1-2-3 when it comes to expected goals, and the order when it comes to chances created in open play is 10, 11, 9.

There’s more to football than creating chances and scoring goals, though. There’s complaining to the referee, for instance, and it you’re a callow ref planning to make it big at PGMOL then beware anyone in the number 18 shirt. Eighteen led the Premier League in yellow cards for dissent in 2020-21, with Bruno Fernandes collecting three of the 10 shown to that particular squad number. A rarer type of booking, particularly during a pandemic when teams are playing behind closed doors, is the one for shirt removal, the very crime of rejecting your own squad number (should that result in a red card? Again, it’s not for me to say). Only three players were punished for it in 2020-21: Jamie Vardy (number 9), Manuel Lanzini (number 10) and Raphinha (number 18). Those famous numbers once again. There’s no escape.

 

Trent-Alexander Arnold on a good day is pic.twitter.com/xVYv5lgpRX

— Goal (@goal) May 22, 2021

 

Of course, there were plenty of other minor squad number triumphs during the campaign. Thanks to Alisson’s goal at WBA, every single 1-11 number scored at least one goal, while the highest number to score was 66, a formerly obscure squad number now made mainstream by Trent Alexander-Arnold. Liverpool’s injury crisis means that they also won the highest squad number seen award (76, worn by Neco Williams), just ahead of Old Trafford youngster Shola Shoretire wearing 74, someone who was conceived when Rio Ferdinand wore number six for Manchester United but subsequently born when Ferdinand had switched to number five.

So what have we learnt? I guess the answer is that despite the slow encroachment of the feared “high numbers” in the modern game, most of the glory and the plaudits still go to players wearing the classics. In the past we’ve seen players as powerful as Alan Shearer, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo battle and plead for specific squad numbers, often successfully, sometimes not. “These days if you say you want to wear the number nine shirt, they’ll arrest you and throw you in jail?” When did this come in? Don’t worry, it didn’t.