Liverpool on long run without conceding a penalty but it’s Everton who top table for away spot-kicks
- Cameron Loftus
- 25 April 2022
Liverpool went another game without conceding a penalty at the weekend but it was a close call. Did home bias, or indeed Liverpool bias come into play? Planet Sport looks at the stats.
Everton's relegation fears increased at Anfield last weekend, with the away team believing they had two valid calls for penalties dismissed.
Winger Anthony Gordon was booked for simulation for the first despite there appearing to be contact with Naby Kieta.
The second appeal was even more controversial, with Gordon going down under pressure from Reds defender Joel Matip. Everton boss Frank Lampard insisted that if Mo Salah was in Gordon's position, then he would have been awarded a penalty.
Does he have a point? Planet Sport looks at the penalty stats for this season to see if referees favour home teams when it comes to penalties.
Which teams have been awarded the most penalties this season?
At first glance there seems some merit to Lampard's claim, with Liverpool topping the table for the most penalties awarded this season. alongside Chelsea and Man City. All three have been awarded eight and all three teams have missed a single penalty, including Jorginho's shocker in their 1-0 win over West Ham last weekend.
However, it follows that the teams near the top end of the table and scoring the most goals will also be well placed when it comes to spot-kicks. After all, they spend more time on the front foot and make more penalty area incursions.
Everton cannot consider themselves to have been too harshly treated this season, though. Despite being 18th in the table and having scored 51 fewer goals than Liverpool, they have only been awarded two less penalties.
Their six penalties place them joint sixth on the list alongside Brentford.
Who have been awarded the most penalties at home?
Man City top the charts when it comes to penalties won at their home ground with six (75%) of their eight awards being at the Etihad.
Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have been awarded five home spot-kicks, while all five of Brighton's penalties this season have come at the Amex.
Ironically, considering their bleating at Anfield, it is Everton who have been awarded the most away penalties this season, with four of their six coming away from Goodison Park.
Southampton, Spurs and Burnley have yet to be awarded a spot-kick at home, while Newcastle, Leicester and Wolves join Brighton in failing to win one on their travels.
What percentage of penalties are awarded to the home team?
There have been 88 penalties awarded this season. Of those, 51 have gone to the home team, working out at 58%.
The figures broadly correlate with the number of goals scored.
Of the 916 goals scored in the Premier League in 2021/22, 494 (53.9%) have been scored by the home side, with 422 scored by the visitors (46.1%).
Last season there were 124 penalties awarded, with 64 going to the home team (51.5%).
Across the Premier League's 30 seasons, there have been 2,431 penalties given, with the hosts in receipt of 61.1% of them.
Which referees have awarded the most penalties this season?
The man in the middle for the Merseyside derby was Stuart Attwell, who has taken charge of 18 Premier League matches this campaign. In those games, the Warwickshire-born ref has awarded five penalties, for an average of one every 3.6 matches.
His five spot-kicks given put him in a share of third place, with only Anthony Taylor and Darren England having awarded more with seven and eight, respectively.
Taylor has been the man in the middle on a league-high 24 occasions, averaging a penalty every 3.4 matches. England meanwhile has officiated just 13 matches for a spot kick of one every 1.63 matches.
How often do Liverpool concede goals from penalties at Anfield?
Not very. In fact the last time they conceded a goal from 12 yards out at Anfield was against Everton in a 2-0 home defeat in February 2021, Gylfi Sigurdsson's late spot-kick wrapping up the three points.
They did also concede from the spot against Burnley a month earlier, when Ashley Barnes' penalty secured a shock 1-0 win for Sean Dyche's men.
The Reds conceded from three penalties last season, with the first coming on matchday six against Sheffield United, when Sander Berge converted from the spot.
Before that penalty, Liverpool had only ever conceded two penalty goals at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp since his appointment in October 2015.
🗣 "That's a stonewall penalty."
— 𝐓𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐄 𝐓𝐕 (@ToffeeTVEFC) April 24, 2022
Graeme Souness says Anthony Gordon should've been awarded a penalty
pic.twitter.com/Ncg5MypfjM
Lampard may also have a point when it comes to penalties being awarded against Liverpool. Klopp's Reds have not conceded a penalty in their last 46 league matches - the longest active run for any Premier League side.
