Although there are two matches left to be played on EPL Match Day 8 we thought we’d share some excellent performances of yesterday. We’ve picked out Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney, Mark Noble, Edin Dzeko, Grant Holt, Michu and John Arne Riise as the main stars of yesterday for each of the sides that won.

EPLIndex picked out the real heroes and stand out performers as Juan Mata & Edin Dzeko. Taking their team from losing positions in difficult circumstances (Mata: away at Spurs is never easy and City were down to 10 men early on so another difficult task being down to ten and a goal down) and then win made them our picks of the weekend.

Using our Stats Centre (powered by Opta Stats) we have got stats on seven heroes from yesterday (each from one match) – take a look and please do leave a comment below!

Juan Mata for Chelsea

Juan Mata was undoubtedly one of the Heroes of the weekend and the Man of the Match for Chelsea against Spurs. The midfielder scored two from five shots, four of them on target too achieving a shooting accuracy of 80% for the game. He also created two chances one of them was an assist for the fourth goal where he hounded down Kyle Walker and won possession in the final third – Mata just didn’t give up even though he’d helped Chelsea turnaround a deficit. A slow starter this season but in the last three Match Days he has been unbelievable.

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Edin Dzeko for Manchester City

Widely renowned as the “Super-Sub” now – Edin Dzeko is delivery the goods for Manchester City from the bench this season. Even more reason for him to stay there – his record this season is unbelievable. He’s now scoring a goal every 55 minutes for Manchester City in the 2012/13 Premier League season and that is the MOST often for any player who’s attempted over 15 shots at goal.

Dzeko was, without doubt, one of the Heroes of the day. His two goals came in an 11 minute cameo averaging a goal every 5.5 minutes and also managed five attempts at goal in those 11 minutes (an attempt every 2 minutes). His shooting accuracy was at 60% whilst his chance conversion was 40% – an excellent 11 minute performance and this seems to be Dzeko’s role; come on against a tired defence and let City’s creativity do the rest. They lay on the chances and Dzeko finishes them – 5 goals this season for Edin now.

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Juan Mata Stats | Edin Dzeko Stats | Raheem Sterling Stats | Wayne Rooney Stats

Michu Stats | Mark Noble Stats | John Arne Riise Stats | Grant Holt

All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.

Raheem Sterling for Liverpool

A “Sterling” effort from Raheem against Reading. Creating a chance every 17 minutes and a shot every 28 minutes Raheem Sterling was certainly one of the heroes of the days yesterday. He was a constant threat and in the first half found himself getting in behind the Reading defence on multiple occasions. It was an excellent performance from the 17 year old who became the 8th youngest goal scorer in Premier League history at 17 years of age.

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All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.

Wayne Rooney for Manchester United

Wayne Rooney followed up his goals for England with three (one own goal!) in Match Day 8. Looking likely to be a villain after an own goal he was able to score two goals at the right end and create a brilliant goal for Danny Welbeck – the cross for Welbeck was just sublime.

Wayne created a chance every 30 minutes and attempted a shot at the same rate. All of his shots were on target too so he averaged 100% shot accuracy and 67% chance conversion. For these reasons it was inevitable that Rooney would be listed as one of the heroes from the Premier League’s Match Day 8.

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All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.

Michu for Swansea

Michu’s goal scoring heroics this season continue as he scored his 6th goal of the campaign to become joint top scorer alongside Demba Ba and Robin van Persie. Some excellent company there for Michu in his debut season in the Premier League. As you can see from the stats below Michu attempted four shots (one every 23 minutes) and converted the most important one which resulted in the goal. Michu also created two chances for Swansea capping off a good attacking display. However there was a lot more to Michu’s game yesterday.

Michu’s duel battles were key for Swansea yesterday – he won 56% of his nine duels and he won 80% of his five aerial duels. Michu also won both of his tackles meaning Michu defended from the front and won the majority of his 50-50’s to aid Swansea to get back to winning ways as this was their first win in six Premier League games.

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All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.

Mark Noble for West Ham

Mark Noble starred for West Ham yesterday as he scored two set-piece (free-kick and penalty) goals as the Hammers romped home 4-1 to continue their brilliant start to the season. As you can see below Mark completed 83% of his passes and created two chances in addition to his two goals. A staggering 52% of his passes were also forward indicating Noble’s agressive game yesterday. An excellent performance and deserving of being labelled one of the Heroes of the week.

As shown below – both attempts at goal resulted in goals! 100% accuracy and conversion!

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All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.

John Arne Riise for Fulham

The former Liverpool full back, John Arne Riise had a great game creatively for Fulham which pushed us into picking him as one of the Heroes for Match Day 8. He created four chances, including the assist for the winner as well as keeping a clean sheet.

Not only that John Arne Riise attempted 17 crosses in the game against Aston Villa with 35% of them finding a Fulham team-mate (excellent %).

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All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.

Grant Holt for Norwich City

Norwich City’s first win of the season came thanks to Grant Holt’s goal against Arsenal. A game in which Norwich only had 27.5% of the ball possession but Grant Holt still managed to attempt 3 shots and score against the Gunners.

The goal marked three consecutive strikes for Holt and against opposition like Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal this was no easy task. An in-form Grant Holt is only good news for Norwich City as they battle to stay in the Premier League this season.

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All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.