Crystal Palace has played six, lost six, conceded 13 goals and scored none. That’s 540 minutes of English Premier League football without scoring, a record for longest goalless streak to start a season. In other words, one epic dry spell. But even if Crystal Palace manages to score this weekend against Manchester United, the Eagles will still hold the record for longest EPL scoreless streak.
From the 87th minute on November 5, 1994, to the 23rd minute on January 14, 1995, Crystal Palace was held scoreless for 838 minutes over nine matches and change, the English Premier League record for longest dry spell. But the Eagles are inching closer to breaking their own record.
Crystal Palace is not in a good place. The club has had more managers this season than wins, points or goals. The Eagles’ 5-0 capitulation to Manchester City on Sept. 23 was their sixth straight shutout loss to start the campaign, which saw Frank de Boer sacked on Sept. 11 and replaced by Roy Hodgson, the club’s 17th manager change since 2010.
Roy Hodgson is Crystal Palace's 48 millionth manager in the last six seasons. Photo: @uMAXitFootball | Twitter
The last time Crystal Palace scored was in the 90th minute against Hull City on May 14, the penultimate game of the 2016-17 season, putting their scoreless streak at 630. In case you’re wondering, the record for fewest goals in a season is 20, set by Derby County in 2007-08.
Fortunately, Crystal Palace has a ways to go before it hits QPR’s 2012-13 record of 16 matches without a win to start a season, but we’ll have to check back in on that later unless the Eagles can find some sort of scoring touch. Last we checked, you can't win if you don't score.
Nonetheless, Palace is in desperate need of some offense. One would expect a team with Christian Benteke, Yohan Cabaye and Andros Townsend to find the back of the net at some point. But the team rarely ventures forward and has been called offside six times — only Bournemouth (three) has had fewer offside calls.
6 - Crystal Palace are the 1st side in English Football League history to lose their first six games of the season without scoring. Sorrow.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 23, 2017
The Eagles actually have taken 76 shots, ninth most in the league. Two hit the woodwork and only 15 were on target (19.7 percent). In comparison, Watford has taken 63 shots (30.2 percent on target) and scored nine goals, sixth best in the league. Swansea City has taken the fewest shots thus far (40), but at least the Swans have three goals and a win (plus two draws).
Crystal Palace is seventh in the league in corner kicks taken with 35, and eighth in crosses with 125, with none of them producing a goal.
One offensive stat Crystal Palace is among the league leaders in is big chances missed. The Eagles have missed 12 big chances, second only to Manchester City. Of course, the Citizens lead the league in goals with 21.
Crystal Palace’s profligacy might not be the end of the world if its defense wasn’t so terrible. The Eagles are tied with West Ham for most goals allowed.
One would expect Crystal Palace to score eventually, just don’t expect it to come anytime soon, especially after Benteke picked up an injury against Manchester City and is expected to be out for about six weeks. The Eagles’ next matches are against Manchester United at Old Trafford, home to Chelsea then away to Newcastle United at St. James’ Park. Those three clubs have combined to allow 0.67 goals per match this season.
Crystal Palace this season:
Games: 6
Wins: 0
Defeats: 6
Scored: 0
Conceded: 13Next 2 Fixtures:
Man U: Away
Chelsea: Home pic.twitter.com/vidGP5ElWm— SPORF (@Sporf) September 23, 2017
If Crystal Palace can’t find the back of the net in those three matches, their scoreless streak this season would reach 810 minutes, or a record 900 minutes if you include last season.
The Eagles’ best bet for their next goal might not be until Oct. 28 when they host West Ham at Selhurst Park.
Other notable scoreless streaks from the world of sports:
- Fernando Torres went 903 minutes without a goal for Chelsea immediately following his big-money move from Liverpool in January of 2011. He later had a 24-match scoreless streak from 2011-2012. We’re still not sure how.
- In baseball, the 1968 Cubs and 1906 A’s share the team record with 48 straight innings without a run (about five games).
- In 1983, the Houston Rockets became the first National Basketball Association team to be held scoreless in an overtime period.
- The last scoreless tie in the National Football League came in 1943 between the Detroit Lions (obviously) and New York Giants.
- In 1937, the Temple football team played four scoreless ties, a record that, due to today’s overtime rules, will never be broken.
- Two Iowa girls high school basketball teams played four quarters of scoreless basketball before one team won 4-2 in double overtime in 1979.
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