STATS: Adebayor’s shooting accuracy Tottenham Hotspur vs Silva’s passing for Manchester City
Tottenham v Manchester City, Sunday 13:30
– Tottenham’s last Premier League fixture saw things end in a 2-2 stalemate with Everton at White Hart Lane, with goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson not enough to earn Andre Villas Boas’ side more than a point.
– Emmanuel Adebayor comes up against his former club this Sunday after and up-and-down season with Spurs. Although often criticised for a lack of effort, his stats have told something of a different story this campaign. The Togo international has one of the best shot accuracy rates in the Tottenham squad, something he will be expected to utilize against the reigning champions. Adebayor has an on-target rate of 71.4% from 28 attempts on goal.
– Another who has enjoyed a resurgence in form in recent weeks is right-back Kyle Walker. Walker has once again established himself as one of Spurs’ top defenders, with a tackle success percentage of 67.9% from 81 attempted challenges. The England full-back will need to be at his sharpest against a City left-flank stacked with attacking talent like Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri.
– German midfielder Lewis Holtby has made a flying start to life in the Premier League, his slick passing style fitting nicely into AVB’s footballing philosophy. He has also found it easy to adapt to the lack of space often found in the top flight, establishing himself as one of Spurs’ top passers with 107 successful passes in the opponent’s half to his name, at an average rate of one every 3.1 minutes according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
– A late winner from Carlos Tevez was enough to secure Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City a vital three points at home to Wigan on Wednesday evening as they maintained their challenge on Manchester United’s seemingly insurmountable lead at the top of the Premiership.
– Despite looking out of sorts at times this season, Sergio Aguero has still managed to produce his quality when necessary. He’s managed to create a shot on goal on average once every 44.5 minutes he’s been on the pitch so expect him to be in the hunt this weekend.
– The form of Carlos Tevez will be crucial to City maintaining their challenge on Man Utd’s lead at the top of the table and not least in this fixture against a organised Spurs defence. Tevez has contributed massively to City’s season thus far, with a goal or an assist to his name on average once every 87.3 minutes he’s been on the pitch this season.
– Midfielder David Silva is another who could likely play a pivotal role against Spurs, the Spaniard standing as one of City’s other main creative forces this season. He will also be expecting to break through the 1,000 successful pass in the opponent’s half barrier this weekend, Silva currently standing agonizingly close on 998.