9 September: Premier League stadiums were operating at 98.85% capacity in Week 3, the strongest occupancy rate in the first three rounds of the season.
Statistics show that the ten games attracted 387,204 fans out of a possible 391,724 seats, leaving only 4,520 unfilled.
This marked a strong improvement on Week 2, which hosted a larger number of followers (422,208), but the overall occupancy rate dropped to 97.78%. The bigger total crowd reflected a weekend that featured home games for the biggest grounds, notably Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool.
In comparison, the opening weekend was 98.66%.
Ipswich led the last round of occupancy, with 30,019 at Portman Road for the 2-0 defeat by Liverpool, just 37 seats short of the stated capacity. Alexander Isak scored twice in the first nine minutes as Liverpool secured their first league win under Andoni Iraola. They play Atlético de Madrid in the UEFA Champions League this evening and hope to continue this winning momentum.
Newcastle were only slightly behind with 99.86%, with 52,643 watching their 2-2 draw with Bournemouth at St James Park. Arsenal also broke the 99% mark as the Emirates saw out a thrilling 2-1 win over Chelsea that maintained their perfect start to their title defence.
Everton continued to show they can consistently fill their Hill Dickinson Stadium despite it being considerably bigger than their former home at Goodison Park, with 52,302 in attendance for the 2-2 draw with Manchester United, 99.12% of capacity.
At the other end of the table, Hull again had the lowest occupancy of the weekend hosts despite their strong start to the season. Their goalless draw with Aston Villa attracted 24,425 to the 25,586 capacity MKM Stadium, leaving 1,161 seats unused and producing a 95.46% fill rate. Hull were also the lowest-scoring local club for occupancy on the opening weekend.
The second week had been more uneven. Old Trafford attracted its biggest crowd of the season so far, with 74,148 watching Manchester United beat Ipswich 5-2, while 61,025 were at Tottenham for their 2-0 defeat by Newcastle.
But Coventry, Leeds, Sunderland and Spurs all operated below 98% that weekend, pushing the overall occupancy figure down despite higher gross attendances.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at harry.ewing@insideworldfootball.com
