STATS: Benteke’s shot on goal for Aston Villa vs Gerrard’s passing for Liverpool

Aston Villa vs Liverpool, Saturday 17:30

Christian Benteke continued where he left off last season with two goals in Villa’s stunning 3-1 win over Arsenal on the opening weekend. Benteke was one of three players to welcome in the new season with a brace, along with Robin van Persie and Danny Welbeck

Benteke’s five shots at goal against Arsenal was the most by an away team player in the last round of games. Christian Benteke hit 19 Premier League goals last season, finishing fourth in the race for the golden boot. Most impressively, he had the best shots on target percentage of the Premier League’s top ten goal scorers with 69.5% of this efforts troubling the goalkeeper. His closest rival among the top ten goal scorers is Romelu Lukaku who hit 65.11% on target, while golden boot winner Robin van Persie got just 59.1% on target. Benteke is 33/20 to score at any time and 22/5 to score first with 888sport.com

Fabian Delph impressed with the ball at his feet, completing 6 dribbles against Arsenal, the highest in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index

Ron Vlaar was the Premier League’s cleanest tackler last season, averaging eleven tackles attempted for every foul conceded, the best in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index

Daniel Sturridge welcomed in the new Premier League season with its first goal, scoring the winner in Liverpool’s game against Stoke last weekend. That goal was one of six shots at goal by Sturridge in the game, a total bettered only by Edin Dzeko in the first round of fixtures

Steve Gerrard showed there’s no sign of him losing quality or drive as the 33 year completed more passes in the opposition half than any other player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index with 55

Jordan Henderson has had his critics since joining Liverpool, but the midfielder looked like he is finding his feet in the game against Stoke. Henderson had three shots on target, only Frank Lampard had more among the Premier League’s midfielders

Simon Mignolet capped his Liverpool debut with a clean sheet, making five saves along the way, the third highest in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Liverpool are 5/2 with 888sport.com to win without conceding a goal.

Lucas Leiva won 8 tackles against Stoke, second only to his opponent last weekend Steven Nzoni, who won 9 in what was a fiercely contested match