Despite what many of you thought, Paul Robinson hasn’t retired.
Burnley’s first choice goalkeeper, Tom Heaton, missed the game against Manchester City on Saturday due to a calf injury. That was enough for the former Leeds and Tottenham goalkeeper to make his debut for the Clarets and his first Premier League appearance in 1,664 days – his last one coming for Blackburn against Wigan in May 2012.
With many viewers trying to get their head around the fact that 37-year-old Robinson was still actually playing, the ex-England keeper played a significant part in the opening goal of the game.
Pumping a free-kick inside his own half in the direction of the City box, Nicolas Otamaendi’s attempted clearing header fell kindly for Dean Marney, who fired beyond Claudio Bravo to give the home side the lead.
Almost immediately, a flurry of tweets excitedly pointed out that Robinson had done enough to get himself an assist on his return to top-flight action. Soon after that, it was noted that this was enough to pull level with Mesut Özil who, despite his assist king reputation, has only laid on one Premier League goal this season. Don’t believe us? Here’s what the official Premier League stats say:
Before long, all the usual banter-loving footy Twitter accounts were spreading the word that Robison had either levelled or surpassed Özil’s assist count for the 2016/17 season.
As lovely a story as that would be, we’ve checked it out on the official Premier League website, and it appears that Robinson remains one behind the German in the assist stakes. Have a read:
It’s safe to say that without Otamendi’s header, the ball wouldn’t have reached Marney, meaning this touch ‘significantly altered the intended destination of the ball’. If this is anything to go by, the assist won’t be recognised.
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