Chelsea v Liverpool
Sunday, 20th November 2011, 4pm
Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge to face old foes Chelsea – and Fernando Torres – on Sunday, looking to extend their 8 match unbeaten run in all competitions.
Our friends from the EA Sports Player Performance Index provide some interesting stats ahead of the game;
· Liverpool’s Stewart Downing has tipped team mate Jose Enrique for a call up to the next Spain squad. The left back is currently ranked 20th in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index having won 67% of tackles he has attempted and made 13 interceptions and delivering 31 crosses, putting him in the top ten crossers of the ball and one of only two full backs to have put in more than 30 crosses (Norwich’s Marc Tierney is the other).
· Charlie Adam is Liverpool’s next ranked player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index in 37th place.
· Adam has covered more distance that any other Liverpool player this season, clocking up 115,153 metres. Adam covered the most ground of the Liverpool team for the sixth time out of his nine appearances against Swansea with 10,411 metres.
· In that game Liverpool were out run by their opponents by 97599 metres to 98237 metres.
· Luis Suarez is surely due to start a purple patch soon, with the Uruguay striker having scored four goals from a huge 47 efforts at goal, including 27 on target, making for a chance conversion rate of just 8.5%. Compare this to Premier League hot shots such as Demba Ba who has a 42% chance conversion rate and Ivan Klasnic who has a 35% conversion rate and the striker’s bad luck is even more apparent.
· Glen Johnson has returned to action for Liverpool and England, and while the right backs defensive capabilities have been questioned Glen Johnson has won 9 of the 12 tackles he has attempted for Liverpool since returning. Johnson has also covered 32,610 metres since his return, averaging 105.19 metres per minute on the pitch.
· Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard scored the winner on his 90th appearance for England v Spain at the weekend. The evergreen midfielder has responded to critics this season with some great performances for club and country and is Chelsea’s top ranked player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index in 6th.
· Lampard has completed 227 passes in his opponent’s half so far this season, averaging one every 3 minutes 44 seconds, and has put in ten crosses, contributing 4 assists.
· Lampard is also the joint second highest scoring Englishman in the Barclays Premier League with 6 goals, meaning that with assists he has had a hand in just under half of Chelsea‘s goals this season (48%).
· Lampard has got 79.17% of his shots on target for Chelsea this season, with 1 in 4 chances that fall to him hitting the back of the net. That puts Lampard in the top ten players in the league for both shooting accuracy and chance conversion.
· Lampard has also covered 107,596 metres of ground for Chelsea so far this season, averaging an impressive 115.82 metres per minute. Only Ashley Cole has covered more ground, but the full back has played more games so his metres per minute ranking of 114.77 metres remains below Lampard’s.
Fan Comments