Stat Attack: Spurs vs Manchester City

Tottenham are enjoying a resurgence under Tim Sherwood with a 3-1 victory over Swansea in their last game lifting them into fifth place. Emmanuel Adebyaor in particular is enjoying life under Sherwood, with his fifth and sixth goals in eight games since Sherwood took charge.

Adebayor is now averaging a goal every 111 minutes, behind only Suarez, Aguero and Sturridge in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index’s most frequently scoring players. Even more impressively, Adebayor is averaging just 2.2 shots per goal compared to Suarez’s 3.9 shots per goal. This all suggests that if Adebayor had been given more game time earlier this season both the top scorer and Premier League table may look very different.

Nabil Bentalab is another Spurs player who is shining under Tim Sherwood. He won nine out of nine attempted tackles against Swansea, the best tackling performance in the last round of Premier League games.

Free scoring Manchester City hit four past Cardiff City in their last league game, with Edin Dzeko’s opener their 100th goal in all competitions this season. Jesus Navas, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero were all also on target as four different goal scorers typified the threat posed by City in all areas of the field.

Yaya Toure’s goal was his 11th of the season, a fantastic return from the midfielder and coming from just 29 shots at goal, a rate of one every 2.64 shots. That means Yaya Toure has taken the fewest shots in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to reach the ten goal milestone.

Aguero’s goal was his 14th of the season as he tries to make up ground on Luis Suarez in the race for the golden boot since returning from injury. Aguero will need to more selfish if he wants to end the season as the Premier League’s top goalscorer. His chance conversion (one in 3.78 shots results in a goal) is slightly better than Suarez’s (3.9 shots per goal), but Aguero has had just 53 efforts compared to Suarez’s 82.

Even discounting the games Aguero missed due to injury, Suarez averages a shot on goal every 18.63 minutes, compared to Aguero’s one every 21.73 minutes. Suarez also averages a goal every 72 minutes, compared to Aguero’s one every 82. With the two strikers the only two in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to average more than a goal a game (and have scored more than five goals) the golden boot seems very much a two horse race.

Not only did City score four against Cardiff, they also forced Cardiff keeper David Marshall into six saves, the joint highest of any goalkeeper in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, suggesting the scoreline could have been even more emphatic.

With all eyes on City’s goalscorers, Fenandinhho quietly passed another milestone in the game against Cardiff City, as he became one of only seven players in the Premier League to have attempted more than 100 tackles.

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