In-depth player stats: Chelsea vs West Brom

Chelsea v West Brom, Saturday 15:00

 

– Chelsea fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of current Premier League champions Manchester City in their last Premier League outing.

 

– Gary Cahill contributed an impressive 5 blocks in that game, a figure bettered only twice in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index – Kyle Bartley v Liverpool and Ashley Williams v Man Utd

 

– Seven midfielders in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index have scored ten or more goals this season. Two of those are Chelsea players (Frank Lampard and Juan Mata).

 

– In fact, of the 18 players to have scored 10 or more Barclays Premier League goals Lampard and Mata have needed the fewest shots at goal to reach the milestone. Lampard has needed just 43 shots to score 11 goals this season, while Mata has needed just 44 to score 10.

 

– West Brom’s hopes of qualifying for Europe were given a boost with an impressive 2-1 win over Sunderland in their last game, thanks to two goals from Romelu Lukaku.

 

– That took Lukaku’s tally for the season up to 12 goals in the Premier League, at a rate of a goal every 5 shots and with a 68.3% shooting accuracy. That means Lukaku’s chance conversion and shooting accuracy are both BETTER than the league’s second top scorer and one of the player’s of the season, Luis Suarez. Suarez boasts a shooting accuracy of 57.9% and 7.7 shots per goal.

 

– Lukaku also has the third best minutes per goal ratio in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, behind Chicarito Hernandez and Edin Dzeko. Lukaku averages a goal every 115 minutes 18 seconds.

 

– Lukaku is also the youngest of the 18 players in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to score ten or more goals. At 19 Lukaku is three years younger than the second youngest, Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke.

 

– If Chelsea are looking at ways to score against the Baggies they’ll have to avoid crosses into the box. West Brom have the two top ranked players in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for clearances made in Jonas Olsson (72) and Gareth McAuley (66).