STATS: Snodgrass’ crosses for Norwich vs McAuley’s interceptions for West Brom
Norwich v West Brom, 15:00
– Norwich lost 2-1 to Aston Villa in their last league game, with Grant Holt converting a penalty won by Robert Snodgrass.
– Snodgrass again looked Norwich’s most dangerous player, delivering 9 crosses against Villa, the most by a single player in the last round of games. That takes his total for the season to 145, 8 clear of Leighton Baines who is the second ranked with 137.
– Javier Garrido, meanwhile, has been equally dangerous with his delivery for Norwich, delivering 67 crosses from the full back position, the second highest from a defender in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
– Sebastian Bassong remains at the top of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for clearances made with 83, one ahead of Jonas Olsson of West Brom as the race to finish the season top of that particular ranking continues.
– Bassong is joined by Bradley Johnson and Grant Holt in excelling in this criteria. Johnson is the top ranked midfielder for clearances this season with 33, and Holt is joint top among the strikers with 31 clearances this season. If West Brom are to beat Norwich they will need to look beyond balls into the box, or avoid these three players.
– West Brom will be looking for an upturn in form after losing two games in four days – 3-2 against Wigan and 1-0 against Man City.
– Shane Long and Gareth McAuley were both on target against Wigan, but on this occasion two goals at home weren’t enough for a point.
– Long’s goal was his 8th of the season, having come from 41 shots with 20 on target, averaging a goal every 5.125 shots this season, a ratio that isn’t far from league top scorer Robin van Persie who average one every 5.04 shots.
– McAuley’s was his third of the season, having come from 20 shots at goal, although his defensive stats are more impressive having made 171 interceptions so far this season.
– Despite being on the wrong end of the 1-0 scoreline against Man City West Brom actually got more shots on target than any other team has at the Etihad this season, Romelu Lukaku creating four chances for his team mates, more than he has in any other game this season.