STATS: Last weekend’s fastest runners, assist providers and tacklers…
West Ham v Fulham – 12:45
• After a promising start to the season with a 1-0 victory over Villa, Swansea brought West Ham back down to earth subjecting them to a 3-0 defeat at the weekend
• Mark Noble once again covered the most ground for the Hammers with 6.67 miles
• Noble also holds the honour of having attempted the longest shot in the Premier League so far this season, with a hopeful effort of 43 yards
• Mohamed Diame was the Hammers’ fastest player on the pitch against Swansea, registering a top speed of 20.4 mph
• Diame has also completed the most passes in his opponent’s half so far this season for the Hammers, with 28 passes completed.
• That stat puts Sam Allerdyce’s traditional long ball tactic into perspective, as the player who tops the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for passes in his opponent’s half is Yaya Toure with a massive 123, almost 5 times more than Diame. Meanwhile Mark Noble has completed 22 passes backwards and sprayed 562m of long passes around the field so far this season.
• In Fulham’s 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford, Damien Duff scored and Nemanja Vidic could only head a Matthew Briggs cross into his own net for Fulham’s goals
• Briggs registered a top speed of 20.4 miles per hour, only just behind Mladen Petric who was the fastest player on the pitch according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index registering 20.43 miles per hour
• Fulham have done well playing from the back so far this season, with defender Aaron Hughes completing more successful passes in the defensive third than any other player with 38
• Meanwhile, Mahamadou Diarra has proved the focal point for his team, having received the ball 98 times, the third highest in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index after Yaya Toure and Mikel Arteta
• Mouassa Dembele has also received the ball more often than any other striker in the league with 65 ball receptions, so Fulham must be wary of becoming too predictable in their play and relying on those two players
Swansea v Sunderland 15:00
• Swansea followed up their 5-0 victory on the first weekend of the season with a 3-0 win on the second, to continue their very impressive start to the season
• Goals from Angel Rangel, Miguel Michu and Danny Graham made sure the Swans are second in the Premier League after two games, only behind Chelsea who have a game in hand
• Rangel and Michu also topped the charts for distance covered among the Swansea players with 6.3 and 6.15 miles respectively, while Michu was the fastest Swansea player on the pitch registering 20.87 miles per hour
• Swansea are also looking strong at the other end of the pitch, with Neil Taylor having won 10 tackles out of the 11 he has attempted, the highest number of tackles won in the league so far this season
• Wayne Routledge has the second highest number of assists in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index with 3, after Chelsea’s Eden Hazard who has six, but has played an extra game to Routledge
• Sunderland had their match suspended last weekend due to a waterlogged pitch, leaving the Black Cats to focus their action on the transfer market with the signings of Adam Johnson and Stephen Fletcher
• Fletcher was one of the hardest working strikers in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index last season, covering 146.56 miles
• Fletcher also scored and impressive 12 goals last season, the third highest scoring British striker in the Premier League last season
• Adam Johnson had limited opportunities at Manchester City last season, but still managed to contribute six goals and six assists in the Premier League. That averages out at a goal or assist every 106 minutes. If we discount players who played less than 1,000 minutes for their clubs last season this make Johnson the 9th most frequent supplier of goals and / or assists in the Premier League
Tottenham v Norwich 15:00
• New Spurs boss Andre Villas Boas is still waiting for his first win with Spurs after a late equaliser meant his team could only manage a 1-1 draw with West Brom
• Benoit Assou-Ekotto scored for Spurs, while young star Jake Livermore put in a huge contribution with 7.09 miles covered, the third highest distance covered by an individual player so far this season
• Spurs striker Jermain Defoe is a player who divides opinion, but so far this season his shooting stats have matched those of Manchester City hotshot Carlos Tevez. Both have had 11 attempts at goal in the first two games, with 8 on target.
• Defoe has also made the second highest number of attacking runs off the ball in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index with 111, showing the work he does in creating space for his team mates
• Norwich came up against QPR at the weekend as both teams looked to bounce back from 5-0 defeats on the opening weekend of the season
• The Canaries had to settle for a point in the end, with Simeon Jackson scoring in a 1-1 draw
• Anthony Pilkington provided the cross for that goal, and covered 5.9 miles during the game, second only to new signing Robert Snodgrass who covered the most distance for Norwich with 5.97 miles
• Snodgrass also delivered seven crosses in the game, the joint highest of the second round of matches, shared with his opponent this weekend Gareth Bale
• Meanwhile, midfielder Bradley Johnson has committed more fouls than any other player in the league so far this season with ten
• Jonathon Howson has completed more passes in his own half than any other player who will be on display in this game with 42, ahead of Spurs’ Sandro with 39
• However, Norwich will need to turn their attacking play into chances to have a chance against Spurs. Only Bradley Johnson has managed more than one shot on target for the Canaries so far this season.
West Brom v Everton 15:00
• West Brom snatched a late equaliser to take a point away from White Hart Lane in their last game
• James Morrison scored the equaliser for the Baggies, while Graham Dorrans clocked the fastest top speed with 21.6 miles per hour and Liam Ridgewell covered the most distance with 6.05 miles
• Gareth McAuley made 7 clearances in the game, the most any player has made in a single game this season
• Marouane Fellaini continued his impressive start to the season with a goal in Everton’s 3-1 win over Villa at the weekend
• As well as getting on the score sheet for the second game in a row, Fellaini topped the charts for distance covered among the Everton players, clocking up an impressive 6.72 miles in the game
• That was just ahead of fellow goal scorer Steven Pienaar who covered 6.61 miles
• Overall Everton covered 65.16 miles, the fourth highest for a team in an individual game so far this season
• Fellaini also attempted 11 tackles against Villa, the most attempted by a player in a single game this season. That takes his total number of tackles attempted to 17 so far this season, more than any other player. However, looking a little more closely, Fellaini has won just 5 of those tackles and has conceded 7 fouls
• Fellaini has also completed 69 passes in his opponent’s half this season, more than any other player who will be on display in the game against West Brom. In fact, according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the top five passers on display in this game are all Everton players. The West Brom player to have completed the most passes in his opponent’s half is Claudio Yacob with 38.
Wigan v Stoke 15:00
• Wigan continued an impressive start to the season with a 2-0 victory over Southampton at the weekend
• Goals from Franco and Arouna Kone showed that the Latics can survive without Victor Moses, whose protracted transfer to Chelsea has now been completed
• James McArthur covered the most ground for Wigan with 6.43 miles and also registered the fastest top speed with 19.81 miles per hour
• Wigan frequently disrupted Southampton’s play in the game, with Caldwell making 16 interceptions and Ivan Ramis making 14, the top two highest number of interceptions by a player in a single game this season
• That takes Gary Caldwell’s defensive contributions for that game across tackles, clearances, blocks and interceptions up to 24, the busiest defender in the Premier League last weekend
• Meanwhile Ali Al Habsi made ten saves in the game to earn his clean sheet, matching Petr Cech in the first weekend of the season as the most saves made by a keeper so far
• At the other end of the pitch, full back Maynor Figueroa has delivered 11 crosses so far this season, more than any other player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index
• Stoke held an Arsenal team still to score their first goal since the departure of Robin van Persie to a 0-0 draw at the weekend
• Jonathan Walters put in a typically hard working performance as he once again topped the charts for distance covered with 6.68 miles as Stoke out ran the Gunners by 62.37 miles to 60.32 miles
• Jermaine Pennant showed the impact playing a former club can have, registering the fastest top speed of any Stoke player with 23 miles per hour, the fourth highest top speed registered by a player so far this season
• Martinez’s passing style is apparent when you compare the two team’s stats for passes completed in their own area. The top seven players, when comparing players from both sides, for passes completed are all Wigan players with James McCarthy topping the index with 61 passes in his own area. Jonathan Walters is Stoke’s top passer with 25 passes completed in his own area
• However, Stoke have the superior work rate, with the top seven players among the two teams for distance covered all coming from the Potters, topped again by Walters and striker Peter Crouch
Manchester City v QPR 17:30
• Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City were lucky to come away from Anfield with a point at the weekend after a gripping 2-2 draw
• Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez were both on target for the blues
• Tevez has had 11 shots on target so far this season, with 8 on target and 2 goals. Only Luis Suarez has had more shots at goal, although the Liverpool strikers lack’s Tevez’s accuracy as he has got just 5 of his 12 shots at goal on target
• Nigel de Jong covered the most ground for City against Liverpool with 6.36 miles
• Overall, City covered 64.23 miles in the game, the fifth highest total for a team in an individual game so far this season
• Yaya Toure became the first player to complete over 100 passes in his opponent’s half this season against Liverpool, taking his total to 123 so far. That’s especially impressive considering the second highest total, belonging to Chelsea’s Juan Mata, is 97, 26 behind the City midfielder
• Toure has also completed more forward passes than any other player this season with 69, showing the attacking intent which has made City so dangerous over the last two seasons
• It’s no wonder that his team mates look to Toure so often, having received the ball more often than any other player this season with 144 ball receptions
• QPR bounced back from a 5-0 defeat in their first game to earn a point in a 1-1 draw with Norwich
• Bobby Zamora scored for QPR tucking in the rebound from a John Ruddy penalty save, although replays showed he entered the area before Djibril Cisse took his penalty
• Jamie Mackie topped the performance data charts for QPR for both overall distance covered and top speed registered, clocking a speed of 21.17 miles per hour and covering 5.69 miles
• QPR should be wary that as well as being the league’s most exciting passing team, City also have a high work rate. When comparing the two teams head to head, Ji-Sung Park is the only player that makes the top five for overall distance covered so far this season.
• Park also breaks into the top four for passes completed in their opponent’s half, having completed 60 so far this season, behind City’s Yaya Toure with 123, Juan Mata with 97 and Samir Nasri with 73.