TOP PLAYER STATS: QPR vs Manchester United
– QPR remained rooted to the bottom of the Premier League as they were soundly beaten 4-1 away to Swansea. A solitary Bobby Zamora goal will have given little cheer to the R’s dressing room and they face an ever sterner challenge this weekend.
– Julio Cesar has rightly been garnering rave reviews for some of his performances since joining QPR. The EA SPORTS Player Performance Index records him as making 107 saves despite only playing 1687 minutes this season, the lowest of any keeper in the top 15.
– Much of the creative responsibility for QPR falls to Adel Taarabt and Man Utd will be keen to shut down his space this weekend. He leads the QPR on numerous attacking front including dribbles (41), crosses (26) and assists (5).
– The Moroccan forward is also often QPR’s biggest threat in front of goal, his 77 attempts being almost as many as the next three most prolific shooters in the QPR squad combined (87).
– Man Utd cruised to a 2-0 victory over Everton as they continue their seemingly unstoppable march towards yet another Premier League title. The ever-green Ryan Giggs slotted home the opening quarter of an hour, followed by yet another Robin van Persie finish just before the break.
– Brotherly affection will be suspended on Saturday at Loftus Road and you can guarantee Rafael will be relishing the chance to compete against his twin Fabio. The Man Utd man has certainly had more game time than his twin this season and so it’s unsurprising to see him excelling on the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. He’s racked up 84 defensive contributions this season as well as 443 completed passes in the opponent’s half, placing him 4th amongst Premier League right-backs.
– Fellow defender Jonny Evans continues to excel and has disrupted the established centre-half partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic with his performances. He currently has the best tackles rate of player in the Utd squad with 68% for 28 challenges.
– Should QPR manage to shackle Robin van Persie they will have achieved a feat that few defenders have managed this season. The Dutchman has been irrepressible this term, his 19 goals meaning he has scored from every 4.63 attempts he’s had on goal.
– Not to be outdone, forward partner Wayne Rooney has been upping the ante as the season has progressed, completing the third highest number of passes in the opponent’s half in the United squad (471) as well as chipping in with 7 assists.