Aston Villa v Sunderland
– Despite a much improved second-half performance, Aston Villa were powerless to stop Manchester United in their pursuit of the title as they fell to a 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
– Aston Villa are fighting for their Premier League survival and, as have been the story of their season, it will be to Christian Benteke that they will turn to attempt to retain their status in the top flight. The young Belgian has been by far and away Villa’s most potent attacking force this season, attempting 97 shots on goal and managing to make sure one of those found its way on target on average once every 41.4 minutes.
– Despite the ups and downs of Villa’s season, Matthew Lowton has been consistently turning in some rock solid defensive performances. Indeed, he has the best tackle success rate of any of the 18 players to have broken the 100-tackle barrier this season according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, currently sitting on a highly impressive 74.8%.
– Remarkably, not only has Lowton been excelling in his expected defensive capacity, but also in his work higher up the pitch. No Villa player can match his 475 successful passes in the opponent’s half this season, the 23 year-old averaging one every 6.9 minutes he’s been on the field of play.
– Paulo Di Canio’s first match as manager at the Stadium of Light ended in a much-needed victory as his newly motivated Sunderland side overcame Everton in a 1-0 win.
– Paulo Di Canio recently hailed the influence of Stephane Sessegnon, the French winger shouldering much of the attacking responsibility for the Black cats this season. Sessegnon has had more efforts on goal than any other Sunderland player with 53, as well as chipping in with 5 assists.
– Carlos Cuellar has been a defensive giant for Sunderland this term and will undoubtedly be part of his new manager’s plans moving forward to next season. He has the best tackles success rate of any player to have made more than 50 tackles on the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, his 88.5% from 61 challenges the gold standard for the season so far.
– Rumours have been circulating of a possible return back to Tottenham once Danny Roses’ loan spell with Sunderland ends and it’s not hard to see why went you consult the stats. Rose has, on average, made a defensive contribution once every 10.1 minutes, placing him fourth in the Sunderland squad.