STATS: Toure’s passing for Manchester City vs Coloccini’s defensive work for Newcastle
Man City v Newcastle 15:00
– Manchester City all but lost their chance to retain the Premier League title when they lost 2-0 to 10 man Everton in their last Premier League outing.
– Newcastle will be wary of Manchester City’s strikers, but should be alert to goal threats from all over the pitch. Aleksandar Kolarov, for example, has attempted a shot at goal every 62 minutes 30 seconds this season, a more prolific shooting rate than any of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index’s defenders.
– Newcastle will also need to take steps to shackle Yaya Toure midfield. Toure has completed 998 passes in opposition territory this season, the second highest in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, and should easily pass 1,000 against Newcastle.
– Manchester City fan will be hoping for the return of Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany in the game against Newcastle. Aguero has 9 goals this season from 67 efforts at goal with 58.2% on target and an average of 7.4 shots per goal.
– That’s the same number of goals as Carlos Tevez, though Tevez conversely has a better on target percentage (65.8%) and has also needed more shots to hit his nine goals (79).
– Newcastle’s last Premier League game, a 2-1 defeat to Wigan, got all the headlines after Calum McManaman’s tackle on Massadio Haidara.
– As the debate around tackling continues, Newcastle’s Fabricio Coloccini remains an outstanding example of clean tackling in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Coloccini has attempted 38 tackles winning an impressive 30 of them and committing just ten fouls
– Davide Santon scored for the Magpies in that game. Only two outfielders have played more minutes than Santon this season. Santon has played 2819 compared to Matt Lowton of Villa’s 2898 and Steven Gerrard’s 2880.
– Santon also made three blocks for Newcastle against Wigan, one of only two players to do so in the last round of games.
Steven Taylor expressed his shock at getting an England call up last week saying he believed it was a team mate’s girlfriend winding him up. Taylor has made 133 defensive contributions this season, including an impressive 81 interceptions, 14 blocks and 25 clearances