Manchester United’s recent troubles from the penalty spot have left them with a shockingly poor record among Premier League clubs.
Both Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford missed penalties for United before the international break as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer searches for a reliable option.
The PA news agency has looked at penalty success rate for the last 10 seasons for every team in the Premier League and Football League, with only one current top-flight side ranking below United.
Long-term woes for United
United have missed 17 penalties over the 10 years, scoring 41 out of 58 attempts.
Former England captain Wayne Rooney was responsible for five of those misses, with Robin Van Persie, Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic also among the big names to suffer.
Among this season’s 20 Premier League clubs, only Norwich have a worse record – the Canaries have missed six of their last seven penalties and 16 out of 43 over the 10-year period, and their success rate of 62.8 per cent is the only one below 70 per cent in the top flight.
United are at 70.7 per cent – had they scored one or both of those recent efforts, they would have ranked 16th or 17th out of 20. In either case they would move ahead of Everton, who are at 72.1 per cent after missing 12 out of 43 penalties.
West Ham are the Premier League’s best penalty takers, with 35 successful kicks out of 40 over the 10 years for an 87.5 per cent success rate – helped by captain Mark Noble’s 28 out of 30.
Southampton (84.4 per cent) and Sheffield United (83.3) are their nearest challengers, though the Blades have been outside the Premier League for the entirety of that timeframe until this season.
Bournemouth edge out Crystal Palace for the most penalties awarded, 78 to 76, with both teams scoring 62.
Manchester City are third on 68 – matched by Championship sides Derby and Reading – and have scored 54, giving them the best conversion rate among the “big six” with 79.4 per cent.
Liverpool (79.3) and Chelsea (79.2) are just behind, with Tottenham at 78.3, Arsenal 74.4 and United lagging behind.
Sunderland show the way
Across the top four divisions as a whole, Sunderland lead the way in success from the spot – excluding Salford, who have scored their only penalty since entering the Football League this summer.
The Black Cats may have suffered successive relegations in 2017 and 2018 but in one stretch during the 10 years they scored 26 successive penalties, helping them to an overall record of 39 out of 42 and a 92.9 per cent success rate.
Jermain Defoe scored six, Craig Gardner five and Fabio Borini four without missing with Adam Johnson, Darren Bent, Lewis Grabban, Lynden Gooch and Jordi Gomez all three from three and Aiden McGeady four from five.
Bristol Rovers are second with 44 out of 50 to edge out West Ham with an 88 per cent success rate – while local rivals Bristol City are fifth, splitting the Saints and Blades on 84.3 per cent and giving Bristol as a whole a record of 87 out of 101.
The top 10 is completed by Plymouth, Swansea, Lincoln and then Burnley and Doncaster in a tie for 10th on 82.6 per cent (38 out of 46).
At the other end of the table, Brentford prop up the standings with a miserable 54.8 per cent “success” rate – the Bees have converted only 34 out of 62 spot-kicks, with three misses apiece for Alan Judge, Clayton Donaldson and Sam Saunders.
Fellow Championship side Huddersfield have not fared much better, with 20 out of 35 (57.1 per cent), while League Two pair Cambridge and Newport are also languishing below 60 per cent.
The figures suggest conversion rates improve higher up the divisions – Norwich are the only Premier League side among the 18 clubs ranked below Manchester United.
Press Association