STATS: Adam’s top passing for Stoke vs Sunderland players raising their game for Newcastle

Stoke v Sunderland, Saturday 15:00

Stoke played their part in an entertaining encounter against Manchester United last weekend, in which United came out 4-2 winners

A Rooney own goal from a Charlie Adam free kick put the Potters ahead, before United went 3-1 up, just to have the deficit reduced by a Michael Kightly goal, and then restored again by Rooney

Charlie Adam put in the joint top passing performance by a Stoke player in a single game this season against Man Utd, completing 21 passes in the United half. That’s the joint top by a Stoke player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index alongside Glen Whelan’s 21 pass performance in the game against Chelsea

Adam also set a season high for the distance covered by an individual in a single game this season, covering 6.99 miles against Manchester United and inspiring Stoke to a team total of 66.68 miles, their highest as a team all season and the second highest by any team in a single match this season

Kightly’s stats in front of goal continue to impress, having had ten shots on target to just one off target, and two goals already this season

Sunderland took a point in the North East derby via a deflected Demba Ba own goal. Sebastian Larsson delivered a typically dangerous free kick which was headed on by John O’Shea before being deflected into his own net by Ba

The motivation of the North East derby clearly had an impact on Sunderland’s passing, as the top four individual passing performances from a Sunderland player were all taken from that last game. Larsson (36), Gardner (33), Colback (31) and Rose (29) rewrote Sunderland’s passing statistics for the season becoming their top four for passes completed in their opponent’s half in a game this season.

Larsson was dangerous in his deliveries for Sunderland last season, but has had to concentrate on defensive duties this season and has put in more tackles (19, of which he has won 11) than he has crossed (13)