Burnley ensured a predictably difficult afternoon against Southampton last time out in the league as they went down to an eventual 2-0 defeat thanks to an own goal from Jason Shackhell and a close-range strike from Shane Long.
If anything has characterised Burnley’s season so far, it has been the tireless commitment and workrate of their squad. Three players (George Boyd – 338,837m; Scott Arfield – 332,231m; David Jones – 318,883m) feature in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index top three for total distance covered this season by all Barclays Premier League players. Boyd also appears no less than an incredible nine times in the total distance covered in any single game by an individual player this season.
But there is more to this Burnley outfit than just stamina and fitness, there’s no shortage of skill either. Jones himself has so far compiled a squad-best 597 passes in the opponent’s half, meaning that Spurs will have to be mindful not to get complacent this weekend as this is an outfit that can certainly knows how to move the ball as well as press and chase it down.
Danny Ings has been garnering plenty of headlines this season thanks to his performances for a Burnley side that have struggled at times this campaign. His nine goals have been crucial for them though and key to this is the fact that he currently sits with a squad-best total of 58 attempts on goal to his name this season according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
Harry Kane’s maiden Barclays Premier League hat-trick saw Tottenham keep the pressure on in the race for the top four as they played out a 4-3 thriller against Leicester at White Hart Lane.
The early momentum enjoyed by Harry Kane was predicted by many to be a short-lived phenomenon but the academy product has continued to defy his critics and delight the faifthful at the Lane this season. He’s popped up with goals at crucial times for Mauricio Pochettino’s side this season, demonstrating an unerring eye for goal and superb finishing ability. His 19 goals in the Barclays Premier League this season have come about from an excellent 60.7% shot accuracy rate from 61 attempts, giving him an average minutes per goal ratio of one every 98.3 minutes he’s been on the pitch this season.
Although Burnley may be the side most known in the Barclays Premier League for their workrate, in midfield Christian Eriksen they will this weekend be coming against one of the hardest workers in the league. Not only does he sit second only to Burnley’s George Boyd for total distance covered this season (338,235m to Boyd’s 338,837m), he also has the distinction of having covered the greatest amount of ground in a single game by any individual player in the league this season, an impressive 13.6km against Swansea in March.
In Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb, Tottenham could have the basis for an extremely exciting midfield pairing that could see them through the next decade if managed and developed correctly. They will look to dictate play going forward as well as orchestrating midfield defensive efforts against Burnley this weekend, having so far compiled a superb total of 1,052 completed passes in the opponent’s half, as well as winning 71.9% of their combined 157 tackles according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
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