Sheffield United started four Irish players in their first Premier League game since 2007 - John Egan, Enda Stevens, David McGoldrick, and Callum Robinson. This was the first time this happened since Burnley named Stephen Ward, Jeff Hendrick, Kevin Long, and Robbie Brady in their starting XI against West Ham on Sunday, 21st May 2017.
While rare, starting four Irish players is not uncommon. Since the Premier League was launched in 1992, clubs have had a quintet of Irish players start a game in the competition for them on 65 occasions.
Stoke City account for almost half of these games - the Potters have named four players in 28 separate games, ahead of Aston Villa who started four players in 19 games. No other club has done it more than 10 times.
Only two clubs have named five players in their starting XI. Middlesbrough named Alan Kernaghan, Graham Kavanagh, Curtis Fleming,
Bernie Slaven, and Chris Morris in their team against Sheffield Wedneday
on Saturday, 24th October 1992. Almost twenty years later, in February 2012, Aston Villa named Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Ciaran Clark, Stephen Ireland, and Robbie Keane in their starting XI in two consecutive Premier League games.
To date, no Premier League team has started six, or more, Irish players.
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