Premier League Player Stats: Who Leads The Charts So Far?
20 February 2018
In 2002 Oakland Athletics baseball General Manager Billy Beane introduced a method of player recruitment which would in time inspire an Oscar-nominated film starring Hollywood A-Listers Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The film, Moneyball, told the true story of how Beane and his sidekick Paul DePodesta undertook a revolutionary system of recruitment based on statistical analysis. Derided at the time for being at odds with the tried and trusted methods of traditional scouting, the A’s, as Oakland’s baseball team are known, after a tough start to the season and with a roster made up of all manner of free agents and rejects, went on a history-making run of 20 consecutive victories, a Major League (MLB) record.
As in most major sports, statistical analysis has become a huge part of the professional football scene. Here we take a look at the top Premier League’s statistics for this season and highlight those enjoying stellar campaigns.
Golden Boot Race
The race for the Golden Boot has heated up in recent weeks with Manchester City’s prolific forward Sergio Aguero firing himself right back into the race with nine goals in his last six games including a four-goal salvo against Leicester City. However, he faces a real battle to regain a crown he last won back in 2015 with Tottenham goal machine Harry Kane currently leading the standings on 23 goals and a massive favourite at 1/2 to retain his title. Kane, who has won the Golden Boot for the last two seasons and is seeking to become the first man to win three in a row since Thierry Henry, is also being closely chased by Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah who is currently just a goal behind England’s number nine.
Salah, who notched 15 goals for Roma in Serie A last season prompting Liverpool to shell out nearly £40 million for his services, has been the real surprise package this season. The former Basel, Chelsea and Fiorentina winger has more than repaid the faith shown in him by Reds boss Jurgen Klopp and has forged a frightening attacking triumvirate made up of himself, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. Can Salah overcome the odds and opposition to finish the campaign as top goal scorer? You wouldn’t bet against it, would you?
All of the above are in sensational form and have been the money-makers for punters in the Premier League first goalscorer betting.
Most Assists
The Premier League currently boasts some of the most creative players in world football. The likes of Eden Hazard, Christian Eriksen and Paul Pogba all ply their trade in the most competitive league in world football, creating, scoring and assisting countless goals for their team mates and employers. However, it’s difficult to look beyond Manchester City for creativity this season. They have in their armoury a wealth of creative talent and three out of their plethora of attacking options have already clocked up 32 assists between them this season.
However, one player stands head and shoulders above all others in the Premier League this season. Kevin de Bruyne, City’s creator supreme has assisted 14 goals this term and has been the lynchpin of the Citizens’ unrelenting title assault that sees them topping the table by 16 points. Is it a surprise to see the brilliant Belgian leading the assists charts? Not at all in fact. Last season he topped the assists standings with 18 at an impressive ratio of almost a goal created every other game. And he looks certain to top the charts once again with nearest challenger and team mate Leroy Sane four behind on 10, Pogba on nine and the mercurial David Silva on eight.
Highest Pass Completion Percentage
Elsewhere, while Aguero targets a second Golden Boot victory and de Bruyne hunts top place once again in the assists charts, another City player is leading the way in terms of successful pass completion numbers. Is it David Silva or perhaps midfield powerhouse Fernandinho you say? Nope it’s neither. In fact it is none other than no-nonsense central defender Nicolas Otamendi. A surprise you ask? Well maybe not. The style of football that Pep Guardiola preaches is for his players to play out from the back which inevitably means more touches on the ball for the likes of Otamendi, who in the absence of Vincent Kompany and John Stones at times this season has been the one consistent feature of City’s central defence.
With 2346 successful passes to date, City’s Argentinian defender looks set to succeed Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta who topped the standings last term in Chelsea’s title -winning campaign. Fernandinho (2266) currently makes the top three in the standings for the second season running while Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka (2232) also looks on course for a top three finish for the second campaign in succession.
Race For The Golden Gloves
While Kane, Salah and Aguero look set to fight it out until the end of the season for the much-coveted Golden Boot award, at the other end of the pitch Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea looks primed to claim his maiden Golden Glove award if he can hold off current incumbent Thibaut Courtois who lies just two clean sheets behind on 13. Premier League champion in waiting Ederson and Tottenham’s French international lie a further two shut outs behind with just 11 matches of the season remaining.
Top Tackler
The English league has always boasted some of the fiercest tacklers in the game. Think Roy Keane, David Batty and notorious bad boy Vinny Jones. Yet the art of tackling has evolved over the years with players now unable to get away with what was once considered a perfectly good tackle. While two of the current top six teams in the division, Liverpool and Arsenal are seemingly crying out for a top class defensive midfielder, Leicester City boast the Premier League’s top tackler to date in Wilfred Ndidi with an astonishing 113 tackles in 27 games. A huge 28 tackles behind we find Everton’s Idrissa Gueye (85) who won the award last season with 135 tackles while Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante (81), winner of the top tackler award in Leicester’s fairytale title-winning campaign of two seasons ago is third in the current standings and looking good for a third successive top three finish.
Stats Mad Nation
There was a time when you could watch a game of football and just enjoy the game for what is was, a release from the daily grind.
Nowadays though hardly a moment passes during a televised match when we aren’t quoted a statistic from the seemingly stat-obsessed commentators, summarisers and post-match pundits. Whereas in the past it was all about who topped the Premier League goal scoring charts and who won the league title, in 2018 we are a nation of fantasy football-loving statistic junkies, or at least some of us are.
There’s a stat available on the Premier League’s official website for almost every scenario these days. But in the end the main statistic that still counts more than any other is who will accrue enough points to win the title. Everything else bar the Golden Boot and Golden Gloves awards is just filler. As the legendary Bill Shankly once said: “if you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.”
All Premier League player stats can be found on the Premier League official site