Who are the Premier League possession kings in a single match?

“Chelsea registered a possession percentage of 81.1% in their 2-1 win over Newcastle and made a staggering 838 successful passes. Is this a Premier League record ?” asks George Jones.

Not quite, George, though for possession and passes Chelsea’s bravura display of ball-hogging against Newcastle does register high on both lists. They rank fifth on the table of highest-ever possession, and sixth for most successful passes. All records go back to 2003-04, when Opta stats began. Only two teams sit above Chelsea in the overall possession charts for a single match.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess that one is Manchester City but the other, who pop up in fourth place, are a surprise package in Huddersfield Town, who enjoyed 81.2% possession against Swansea on 10 March this year. Well, we say “enjoyed” but they actually found the game extremely frustrating. Jordan Ayew was sent off for the Swans after 11 minutes and Huddersfield huffed and puffed for 79 minutes without finding a way through. The game ended 0-0 with the Terriers having had 30 unsuccessful shots on goal.

1) Manchester City v Swansea City (22/04/18) 83%
2) Manchester City v QPR (13/05/12) 82.3%
3) Manchester City v Everton (31/03/18) 82%
4) Huddersfield Town v Swansea City (10/03/18) 81.2%
5) Chelsea v Newcastle United (26/08/18) 81.1%
6) Manchester City v Newcastle United (20/01/18) 80.5%
7) Liverpool v Burnley (20/08/16) 80.4%
8) Manchester United v West Brom (02/05/15) 79.7%
9) Manchester City v Huddersfield Town (26/11/17) 79.5%
10) Liverpool v Everton (10/12/17) 79.4%

Stats provided by Opta and go back to 2003-04

Above them on the list of possession kings sit Manchester City, in third, second and first place. They registered 82% in the 3-1 win at Everton in March last year and 82.3% in the “Agüerooooooooooo!” title-winning display against QPR in May 2012, when Roberto Mancini was in charge. But at No 1 is their 5-0 win over poor old Swansea City (again), on 22 April, when Pep’s players were just showing off in City’s first game after claiming the Premier League title. They registered an incredible 83%. They also made 942 successful passes in 90 minutes to claim the all-time Opta Premier League record for that particular metric too. To put this particular feat into perspective, when Spain completed over 1,000 passes against Russia they came over 120 minutes. In normal time Spain made 770 passes.

City can also boast two players among their ranks who hold the record for most successful passes (Ilkay Gundogan 167 v Chelsea, 4 March 2018) and touches in a Premier League game (Fernandinho 186 v Everton, 31 March 2018), though Chelsea’s metronomic Jorginho matched the latter record against Newcastle, which perhaps makes it clear why Pep was so keen to sign him.

Repeat results

“Cheltenham Town opened the season with three consecutive 1-0 defeats. What’s the longest run of a team having exactly the same sequence of results to start a season?” asks Paul Oxenbury.

Cheltenham ruined a good start when Immanuelson Duku’s last goal gave them a 1-1 draw at Macclesfield in their fourth league game, but a run of three 1-0 defeats to start the season registers high on the consistencyometer.

Before we look at teams who have bettered that, we should give a nod to Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea, who started the 2010-11 Premier League season with back-to-back 6-0 victories over West Brom and Wigan before their season went to seed.

As for the actual question, Oliver Forrest points out that, in 2013-14, Liverpool won their first three Premier League games 1-0, with Daniel Sturridge scoring the winner each time.

Dirk Maas, meanwhile, points out that Dynamo Kyiv starts this season’s Ukrainian Premier League would four consecutive 1-0 wins, the same score by which they beat Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian Super Cup.

Can you beat Kyiv’s four consecutive 1-0 wins to start the season? If so, email knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

Comedy club

“It came to my attention that Mainz have a rather odd nickname,” begins Roar Gulbrandsen. “After a league fixture against die Nullfünfer (as they were founded in 1905), the newspaper headline the next day read: ‘Bayern hammer der Karnevalsverein’, and my interest was piqued. What could persuade someone to call their pride and joy a carnival union or a foundation of clowns or jesters?”

Timo Langlotz has a comprehensive answer to this one. “Mainz and Cologne are sometimes referred to as Karnevalsverein. Both cities are traditionally very busy during carnival season, culminating in huge parades on Rose Monday and Shrove Tuesday. Many cities and towns have one or more actual Karnevalsverein who build floats, organize parades, have special uniforms etc.

“FC Cologne, more so than Mainz, has seen a lot of unrest and infighting in the not so distant past. This led to them being called Karnevalsverein, a mocking term indicating they’re a bunch of clowns who can’t be taken seriously. Mainz, financially speaking, are minnows and have been similarly mocked. It’s a bit like calling Newcastle your favourite comedy club.”

Mainz, it seems, are happy to laugh at themselves. “The club plays a signature carnival song (the Narrhallamarsch) every time a Mainz player scores a goal at home. An example of this is here. You will probably find that the tune is actually quite lovely.”

We’ll let you, dear reader, be the judge of that.

Knowledge archive

“Has a referee ever scored a goal, either accidentally or in more controversial circumstances, in a top-flight European match?” asked Daniel Turner in May 2005.

While José Mourinho bitterly claimed “the linesman scored for Liverpool” to win their Champions League semi-final, we haven’t stumbled across any record of such a real incident taking place in the professional game. However, an official did take the law into his own hands during an amateur match in Essex in 2001. Referee Brian Savill volleyed home from a corner, bringing Wimpole 2000 back into their Great Bromley Cup tie against Earls Colne Reserves. Well, sort of; Wimpole were 18-1 down before Mr Savill’s intervention. Luckily, players from both teams saw the funny side as Earls Colne clung on for a 20-2 win.

The referee said later: “I just signalled a goal and went roaring up the field. Half of the fans were standing in bewilderment, the other half were cheering.” The FA weren’t smiling as they charged Savill with bringing the game into disrepute, giving him a seven-week ban. Savill duly resigned in protest. Referee Gordon Shaw proved far more decisive in the Swindon and District Under-12s league, when he inadvertently scored the only goal of the game between Park Youth Centre and Dorcan Boys. Shaw stuck his leg out at the wrong moment during a goalmouth scramble and put the ball past the stranded Dorcan keeper - and then ruled that his goal had to stand.

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Can you help?

“Which assistant manager has won the most trophies? Brian Kidd? Rui Faria?” wonders Sandy H.

“Roy Hodgson just signed a contract extension until 2020 but started his career in Sweden in 1976. At 44 years would that make him the longest-serving manager if he completes? I can only find Guy Roux of Auxerre 1961-2005 that would have managed for so long … are there any longer?” asks Mark Stephenson.

“What is the worst season ticket in history? In other words, which team had the dullest set of home matches across a whole campaign?” wonders Andy Postlethwaite.

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