An evening kick-off, a trip to London, a meeting against Mourinho – the archetypal footballing spoilsport – and a chance to make this the greatest ‘start’ to a domestic league campaign in the history of English football, the history of Spanish football, German football, and because of the scale of the achievement I may list the rest of the European nations for effect. It deserves it. Or, maybe read Paul’s latest piece, as he might mention it, but I can’t make any promises.

However, what do the underlying stats tell us about the victory?

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