by amka13 » Sat Jan 02, 2016 12:42 pm
Mid-season report: The most surprising Premier League stats so far
By Carrie Dunn - Eurosport
Opta's mid-season stats have thrown up some fascinating figures - here are some of the ones that intrigued us the most...
Mahrez has had more goal involvement than Ozil
Well, marginally. Mesut Ozil remains the king of assists (16), but if you count goals scored as well, Riyad Mahrez is just in front with 20 involvements to the German's 19.
Mileage doesn't make a blind bit of difference to league position
Bournemouth are clocking up the most sprints (10,306) and doing the most running (2252.6km in total) - they're putting in the legwork, but hardly reaping huge rewards.
Why doesn't Ozil get fouled more often?
He's not even in the top 10 in terms of fouls won. Sadio Mane is getting kicked into the air on average twice a game, winning 49 fouls so far this season.
Who is more violent out of Alex Tettey and Jack Colback?
It's a tie - eight yellow cards apiece. So yes, both are pretty violent!
United really do have the best ball possession in the league
Manchester United can boast 60.8 per cent possession from their matches so far this season, with their city rivals sizeably behind on 58.5 per cent.
Leicester have made only one goal-conceding error all season...
Yep, one single mistake that led directly to a goal. That's it. One.
...and West Ham are more error-prone in the box than Aston Villa.
They've made eight mistakes leading to a goal - compared to the dismal Villans' seven. But they're doing much, much better than the struggling Midlands side.
Chelsea have blown 10 points from winning positions
Not wishing to demonise Remi Garde's men, but Villa have also dropped 10 points from being in the lead. Chelsea would be sixth if they hadn't failed to hang on to those wins.
Jose Mourinho wasn't entirely accurate about that referees' conspiracy
Chelsea have won the most fouls this season - 258, a long way ahead of Swansea's 237.
In it to win it
This one is surprising for its very unsurprising-ness - Odion Ighalo has had the most shots (54, with 32 on target), with Jamie Vardy a smidge behind (52, with 31 on target as well), then Romelu Lukaku (51 with 28 on target) and Harry Kane (50 with 32 on target). It's true, you have to buy a ticket to win the raffle.