TOP PLAYER STATS: Newcastle vs Southampton
– Despite a first-half Yoan Gouffran goal, Newcastle fell to a 21 defeat at the hands of Tottenham and the inspired Gareth Bale. Alan Pardew can take heart from what was a strong Newcastle performance and he will be looking for his side to produce a similar performance against the Saints this week.
– Despite only playing 767 minutes this season Sylvain Marveaux still has the highest number of assists of any player in the Newcastle squad with 5.
– Midfield dynamo Moussa Sissoko looks to be settling into life at Newcastle well, quickly picking up the pace at which the play is conducted in the Premier League. He’s already completed 60 passes in the opponent’s half this season, at a rate of one every 4.6 minutes.
– Fabricio Coloccini continues to be Newcastle’s defensive rock this season, the Magpies captain leading by example to the rest of his defensive colleagues. He’s established an excellent 78.9% tackle success rate from 38 attempted challenges according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
– Alan Pardew will be looking for far greater accuracy from Papiss Cisse as Newcastle continue to adapt to life after Demba Ba. Â As yet this season the Senegalese frontman has only managed to work the keeper with 52.1% of his 46 attempts on goal.
– Southampton produced one of the great performances in their history last time out as they condemned reigning Premier League champions Manchester City to a 3-1 defeat at St Mary’s. Goals from Jason Puncheon and Steven Davis secured a famous win and they will want to carry their new-found momentum into this weekend.
– Expect to see Jason Puncheon build on his performance against Manchester City this week and look to terroise Newcastle’s defence on Saturday. He leads the Southampton squad for dribbles with 15.
– Morgan Schneiderlin is renowned for his all-action defensive efforts in the heart of the Southampton midfield and has now joined Steve Sidwell as part of the exclusive club of players to have attempted 100 or more tackles this season.
– Defender Jose Fonte shows no signs of ending his excellent run of form any time soon, as he leads the Southampton squad for defensive contributions this season with 211 according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
– Rickie Lambert has spent much of this season proving his value is not limited to how many times he hits the back of net. His movement and physical presence has been an invaluable asset for Southampton and he has so far provided a squad-leading 7 assists according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.