Heroes and Zeros: Lukaku shines, Hazard back on form
Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez were among the statistical stars of the weekend, with Memphis Depay, Martin Skrtel and Dele Alli, surprisingly, among this week’s strugglers.
Everton striker Lukaku has been in form this season and on Saturday became only the fifth player in Premier League history to score 50 league goals before their 23rd birthday as the Toffees swept struggling Aston Villa aside 4-0.
And the stats certainly recognised his two-goal display, with the Belgian scoring a league high 9.29 rating – narrowly ahead of team-mate Ross Barkley and Leicester duo Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante.
There was also a rare league victory to celebrate for Jose Mourinho this weekend as the Blues eased their relegation fears (!) with a narrow 1-0 win over Norwich. The win was earned thanks to Diego Costa’s goal, but it was the return to form of Hazard that will have most pleased Blues fans; the Belgian revealing a chat with Mourinho helping him return to his best form.
Statistically speaking, it was a good afternoon for Arsenal, with Sanchez, Santi Cazorla (despite his late penalty miss, which our Ref Review described as a ‘gift’) and Mathieu Flamini all impressing, despite their 2-1 defeat at West Brom.
The Gunners loss allowed Manchester United to leapfrog them in the table after a 2-1 win at Watford; a game in which Louis van Gaal’s side got themselves out of jail, according to our article. Depay, despite his opening goal, was amongst the weekend’s strugglers, with the Dutchman making a weekend high of eight unsuccessful touches.
Spurs and England hero Alli, who was dispossessed six times, was another of the weekend’s strugglers.
Here, WhoScored.com look at the players that played the biggest roles for their teams over the weekend – and those that were more of a hindrance than a help…
Highest-rated players
Lukaku – 9.29
Barkley – 9.16
Mahrez – 9.05
Kante – 9.03
Kane – 8.92
Most shots on target
Kane – 4
Firmino – 4
5 players – 3
Most successful dribbles
Sanchez – 11
Hazard – 9
Zaha – 6
Dembele – 5
J. Ayew – 5
Mahrez – 5
Most chances created
Arnautovic – 6
Hazard – 5
Mahrez – 5
7 players – 4
Most touches
Cazorla – 143
Fabregas – 123
Barry – 115
Ozil – 105
Mori – 104
Best pass completion (minimum 15 passes)
Kone – 100% (23 passes)
Flamini – 95.9% (49 passes)
Arteta – 95% (20 passes)
McCarthy – 95% (60 passes)
King – 95% (20 passes)
Most aerials won
Zouma – 8
Walters – 7
Mertesacker – 6
Sagna – 6
Ulloa – 6
Dummett – 6
Most tackles and interceptions (combined)
Kante – 16
Anita – 14
Fuchs – 11
Milner – 10
Reid – 10
Moreno – 10
Most defensive clearances
Bartley – 15
O’Shea – 14
Kaboul – 13
Coates – 11
5 players – 5
Worst pass completion (excluding goalkeepers)
Skrtel – 50% (24 passes)
Wickham – 50% (22 passes)
Britos – 53.8% (52 passes)
Shawcross – 54.2% (24 passes)
Ulloa – 55.2% (29 passes)
Most unsuccessful touches
Depay – 8
Ulloa – 5
Sanchez – 5
Sakho – 5
Lanzini – 5
Most times dispossessed
Alli – 6
Sissoko – 5
Arter – 5
Son – 5
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team ratings. You can follow all the scores, statistics, live player and team ratings with their new free-to-download app.