Almost 13 million watch Premier League football

Last season, almost 13 million fans went to various stadia in the 20-club Premiership to watch football matches. The approximate figure is 12,879,441.

Yet, following last season's drop in average attendances from the previous campaign which were the best in 50 years, this past campaign's mean figures of 33,893 are below the 2003-04 average of 34,984.

Two of the best-supported sides, Sunderland (40,000) and West Ham (35,000), are now back in the top flight and hence attendances for the coming campaign should receive a boost.

Crystal Palace and Norwich, two of the relegated sides, averaged crowds of 24,000. But the demotion of Southampton (30,000) for Wigan (11,500) represents a digressive step in terms of attendances.

Yet, capacity crowds of over 20,000 will be expected at the JJB Stadium now that the Latics are in the Premiership for the first time in their history.

Eight clubs have shown a seasonal increase on their average attendances, most of them capacity gates: Aston Villa, Charlton Athletic, Chelsea, Fulham, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Clean sheets

Premiership's blanks for sides (in brackets last season's total), intact at the back...

Chelsea 25 - (21)

Manchester United 19 - (14)

Arsenal 16 - (15)

Blackburn Rovers 16 - (8)

Everton 13 - (10)

Tottenham Hotspur 13 - (8)

Charlton Athletic 12 - (10)

Aston Villa 11 - (12)

Manchester City 11 - (6)

Middlesbrough 11 - (14)

Crystal Palace 10 - (-)

Birmingham City 9 - (15)

Fulham 8 - (14)

Bolton Wanderers 7 - (10)

Liverpool 7 - (14)

Southampton 7 - (11)

West Brom 7 - (-)

Newcastle United 6 - (11)

Norwich 6 - (-)

Portsmouth 5 - (8)

Doubles

Home and away wins in the Premiership inflicted upon the same club by other respecitive sides:

Chelsea (12): Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Everton, Norwich, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Fulham, Charlton, Manchester United.

Arsenal (10): Fulham, Charlton, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Norwich, Middlesbrough, Tottenham, Everton.

Manchester United (6): Liverpool, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Newcastle, Charlton, Southampton.

Everton (4): Manchester City, Portsmouth, Norwich, Crystal Palace.

Liverpool (4): West Brom, Norwich, Charlton, Fulham.

Aston Villa (3): Portsmouth, Newcastle, Southampton.

Bolton (3): Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Charlton.

Manchester City (3): Crystal Palace, Portsmouth, Aston Villa.

Middlesbrough (3): Blackburn, Crystal Palace, West Brom.

Tottenham (3): Everton, Manchester City, Newcastle.

Birmingham (2): Liverpool, Aston Villa.

Charlton (2): Everton, Tottenham.

Blackburn (1): Portsmouth.

Crystal Palace (1): Birmingham.

Fulham (1): Norwich.

Newcastle (1): Southampton.

Portsmouth (1): Crystal Palace.

Treble terriers

The hat-tricks achieved in all competitions:

August 30: Yakubu for Portsmouth (home) vs Fulham 4-3.

September 28: Rooney for Manchester United (home) vs Fenerbache 6-2 (Champions League).

September 30: Shearer for Newcastle (away) vs Bnei Sachnin 5-1 (UEFA Cup).

October 16: Hasselbaink for Middlesbrough (away) vs Blackburn 4-0.

October 23: Gudjohnsen for Chelsea (home) vs Blackburn 4-0.

October 27: Blackstock for Southampton (home) vs Colchester 3-2 (League Cup).

November 13: Baros for Liverpool (home) vs Crystal Palace 3-2.

December 18: Defoe for Tottenham (home) vs Southampton 5-1.

March 5: Henry for Arsenal (home) vs Portsmouth 3-0.

March 19: Earnshaw for West Brom (away) vs Charlton 4-1.

April 2: Henry for Arsenal (home) vs Norwich 4-1.

Note: Where not indicated trebles were attained in Premiership action.

Penalty poachers

Hot shots from the deadly spot in Premiership competition only read:

Johnson (Crystal Palace) 10; Okocha (Bolton) 4; Yakubu (Portsmouth) 4.

Players of the Month

August - Jose Antonio Reyes (Arsenal).

September - Ledley King (Tottenham).

October - Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace).

November - Arjen Robben (Chelsea).

December - Steven Gerrard (Liverpool).

January - John Terry (Chelsea).

February - Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

March - Joe Cole (Chelsea).

April - Frank Lampard (Chelsea).

Managers of the Month

August - Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).

September - David Moyes (Everton).

October - Harry Redknapp (Portsmouth).

November - Jose Mourinho (Chelsea).

December - Martin Jol (Tottenham).

January - Jose Mourinho (Chelsea).

February - Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).

March - Harry Redknapp (Southampton).

April - Stuart Pearce (Manchester City).

Dismissals

Players sent off in the Premiership read:

Fulham (8): Diop twice, Cole, Pearce, Knight, Negonai, Jensen, Rosenior.

Blackburn (5): Amoruso, Tugay, Bothroyd, Thompson, Short.

Manchester United (5): Smith, Brown, Silvestre, Neville G., Scholes.

Newcastle (5): Bowyer twice, Taylor, Dyer, Ameobi.

West Brom (5): Clement, Purse, Contra, Gaardsoe, Greening.

Everton (4): Naysmith, Cahill, Ferguson, Beattie.

Birmingham (3): Johnson twice, Izzet.

Charlton (3): Bartlett, El Karkouri, Perry.

Crystal Palace (3): Sorondo twice, Lakis.

Aston Villa (2): Hendrie, Ridgewell.

Bolton (2): Jaaskelainen, N'Gotty.

Liverpool (2): Josemi, Baros.

Manchester City (2): Dunne, Mills.

Middlesbrough (2): Queudrue, Parlour.

Portsmouth (2): LuaLua, Faye.

Southampton (2): Prutton, Crouch.

Arsenal (1): Van Persie.

Norwich (1): Edworthy.

Tottenham (1): Kanoute.

Chelsea: Nil.

Kick-off

The coming Premiership season will kick off on Saturday, August 13.

Champions Chelsea will combat FA Cup winners Arsenal at Cardiff in the Community Shield match on Sunday, August 7.