Attendance of almost 30m attests to English game popularity

The Premier League is now firmly established as the most attractive and popular competition on the continent.

Actually, the gates last season were the best for decades, not only in the top flight but in the entire four divisions of the English game.

At 29,939,632, crowds in all four divisions are the highest since 1968, when football was at its best, still basking in the euphoria of England's World Cup triumph two years earlier.

The average crowd in the Premier League is 36,144 − the best for more than 50 years. The last time the average was that high was way back in 1949-50.

The Premier League's overall attendance of 13,734,837 is a competition record and the highest top-flight aggregate since 1972-73. Yet, at that time the 'old' Division One consisted of 22 members and 82 more matches were played.

The top three clubs with the highest average in 2007/08 were Manchester United, Arsenal and Newcastle. Arsenal reported a 99.5 per cent seat occupancy.

Nine clubs have shown a seasonal increase on their average attendances, most of them near capacity gates: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Everton, Fulham, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Tottenham and Wigan. Promoted clubs are not included.

Doubles

Home and away wins in the Premiership over the same club:

Arsenal (9): Tottenham, West Ham, Fulham, Manchester City, Bolton, Reading, Derby, Everton, Sunderland.
Manchester United (9): Everton, Sunderland, Birmingham, Newcastle, Fulham, Derby, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Wigan.
Chelsea (8): Birmingham, Reading, West Ham, Derby, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Manchester City, Newcastle.
Everton (6): Bolton, Middlesbrough, Wigan, Manchester City, Sunderland, Derby.
Liverpool (6): Derby, Sunderland, Bolton, Newcastle, Everton, Fulham.
Portsmouth (5): Reading, Bolton, Birmingham, Aston Villa, Wigan.
Blackburn (4): Sunderland, Bolton, Newcastle, Derby.
West Ham (4): Middlesbrough, Fulham, Blackburn, Derby.
Aston Villa (3): Reading, Derby, Birmingham.
Manchester City (3): Newcastle, Manchester United, Sunderland.
Middlesbrough (3): Fulham, Derby, Portsmouth.
Tottenham (3): Derby, Portsmouth, Reading.
Newcastle (2): Fulham, Tottenham.
Wigan (2): Derby, Birmingham.
Birmingham (1): Tottenham.
Bolton (1): Reading.
Fulham (1): Reading.
Reading (1): Derby.

Note: Derby and Sunderland were the only clubs that failed to claim a double. The sides with the most home-and-away losses to the same club read: Derby − 12; Reading, Sunderland − seven; Fulham six. Runners-up Chelsea and third-placed Arsenal ended the campaign without a double against them.

Clean sheets

Number of games in which Premier League clubs did not concede a goal (in brackets last season's total).

Chelsea 21 (22)
Manchester United 21 (16)
Liverpool 18 (20)
Portsmouth 16 (11)
Arsenal 15 (12)
Everton 14 (14)
Bolton Wanderers 12 (13)
Wigan Athletic 12 (09)
Manchester City 11 (14)
Aston Villa 09 (13)
Tottenham Hotspur 09 (06)
Blackburn Rovers 08 (08)
Middlesbrough 08 (09)
Newcastle United 08 (07)
Reading 08 (12)
West Ham United 08 (08)
Fulham 07 (07)
Sunderland 07 (-)
Birmingham City 07 (-)
Derby County 03 (-)

Note: For the third season running, Liverpool's Pepe Reina has won the Golden Glove Award as the goalkeeper with the highest number of clean sheets.

Hat-tricks

September 22: Adebayor for Arsenal (home) vs Derby 5-0.
September 29: Mwaruwari for Portsmouth (home) vs Reading 7-4.
December 8: Yakubu for Everton (home) vs Fulham 3-0.
December 15: Santa Cruz for Blackburn (away) vs Wigan 3-5; M. Bent for Wigan home vs Blackburn 5-3.
December 29: Berbatov − scored four − for Tottenham (home) vs Reading 6-4.
January 12: Ronaldo for Manchester United (home) vs Newcastle 6-0.
January 19: Mwaruwari for Portsmouth (home) vs Derby 3-1.
February 9: Carew for Aston Villa (home) vs Newcastle 4-1.
February 23: Torres for Liverpool (home) vs Middlesbrough 3-2.
March 1: Forssell for Birmingham (home) vs Tottenham 4-1.
March 5: Torres for Liverpool (home) vs West Ham 4-0.
March 12: Lampard (scored four) for Chelsea (home) vs Derby 6-1.
April 28: Adebayor for Arsenal (away) vs Derby 6-2.
May 11: Alves for Middlesbrough (home) vs Manchester City 8-1.

Players of the month

August - Micah Richards (Manchester City).
September - Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal).
October - Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).
November - Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa).
December - Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn).
January - Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).
February - Fernando Torres (Liverpool).
March - Ronaldo.
April - Ashley Young (Aston Villa).

Managers of the month

August - Sven-Goran Eriksson (Manchester City).
September - Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).
October - Mark Hughes (Blackburn).
November - Martin O'Neill (Aston Villa).
December - Wenger.
January - Ferguson.
February - David Moyes (Everton).
March - Ferguson.
April - Avram Grant (Chelsea).

Sendings-off

Blackburn (6): Nielsen twice, Tugay, Dunn, Emerton, Samba.
Fulham (6): Baird, Konchesky, Omozusi, Volz, Bouazza, Andreasen.
Chelsea (5): Mikel, Drogba, Essien, Carvalho, Cole Ashley.
Reading (5): Kitson, Cisse, Gunnarsson, Sonko, Matejovsky.
Aston Villa (4): Reo Coker, Carson, Knight, Mellberg.
Manchester City (4): Dunne twice, Ireland, Petrov.
Sunderland (4): McShane, Halford, Miller, Yorke.
Wigan (4): Kilbane, Melchiot, Koumas, Palacios.
Arsenal (3): Senderos, Bendtner, Diaby.
Birmingham (3): Taylor, Queudrue, Johnson.
Everton (3): Hibbert, Neville, Arteta.
Portsmouth (3): Muntari twice, Hreidarsson.
Manchester United (2): Ronaldo, Nani.
Liverpool (1): Mascherano.
Middlesbrough (1): Aliadiere.
Derby (1): Davies (1).
Newcastle (1): Smith.
Tottenham (1): Keane.
West Ham (1): Boa Morte.
Bolton: Nil.

Kick-off

The 2008-09 Premiership season will kick off on Saturday, August 16. Champions Manchester United will take on FA Cup winners Portsmouth at Wembley in the FA Community Shield match on Sunday, August 10.