Cavani strike gives Newcastle unwanted Premier League record

Newcastle United set a record no club would want when they conceded an 80th Premier League goal of the year in Monday night’s clash with Manchester United.

The Magpies came into the game having leaked 79 goals in 41 games, matching the highest total shipped by a team in a calendar year during the Premier League era, which began with the 1992-93 season.

Newcastle were unlocked for a record-breaking 80th time when Edinson Cavani hit a 71st-minute equaliser for Ralf Rangnick’s Red Devils at St James’ Park.

Ipswich were the only previous side to concede 79 in a year, doing so in 1994. They went on to finish bottom of the 1994-95 top-flight table, famously losing 9-0 at Manchester United in March 1995, having failed to solve their defensive problems.

The last top-flight team in England to concede more over the course of a year were West Brom in 1985, with the Baggies leaking 87 goals in the old First Division.

80 – Newcastle have conceded 80 goals in the Premier League in 2021, the most goals any side has conceded in the competition across a calendar year. The last top-flight team to concede more over the course of a year were West Brom in 1985 (87). Hazardous. #NEWMUN

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 27, 2021

Allan Saint-Maximin gave Newcastle a strong start to Monday’s game when he drove into the visitors’ penalty area and smashed a shot inside the right post to give Newcastle a seventh-minute lead.

But substitute Cavani denied relegation-threatened Newcastle three precious points, converting Diogo Dalot’s cross at the second attempt.

Heading into the clash with the Red Devils, Newcastle had won just eight times this year, drawing 12 and losing 21, conceding four goals in a game on five occasions, including twice against Manchester City and once against United, losing 4-1 at Old Trafford in September.

They have been unable to make St James’ Park anything close to a fortress, conceding 41 in 20 home fixtures and winning just four times before the arrival of Rangnick’s team.

The goals conceded total was not the only Premier League record to be toppled when Cavani struck.

It was United’s 113th Premier League goal against Newcastle, and that is the most that any team has scored against another in the competition, beating the record the Red Devils shared with Arsenal, who have scored 112 against Everton.