Match Day 9 has been completed in the Premier League and, despite their first loss yesterday, Chelsea are still on top of the league. With both of their Manchester rivals winning Chelsea are now a solitary point ahead as the title race hots up coming into November.

With almost a quarter of the season gone we’re going to look at the Top Players so far this season using our EPLIndex Stats Centre (powered by Opta). We will be looking at the following areas in this article: Top Scorers, Creativity, Passing, Tackling & Fouls Conceded.

Premier League Creators

First up we’re going to look at the Premier League’s creative players. The view below shows that Leighton Baines is the most creative player in the league. As you can see below the majority of Leighton Baines’ chances are created via set-plays. The other players in the Top 5 rely more on open-play chance creation and in Aaron Lennon’s case all of his chances are created via open-play.

The minutes per chance created (MCC) column is telling too. Baines is creating a chance every 20 minutes – the best rate in the league. However, out of this Top 5, it is Santi Cazorla that is creating most often in open-play creating a chance every 30.81 minutes. In fact only Steven Gerrard creates at a slower rate than Baines in open-play, both of them being set piece kings as shown in the Merseyside Derby yesterday with Baines creating 6 chances (no assist) and Gerrard grabbing an excellent assist as Suarez scored with a glancing header.

Clear-Cut Chances

A lot is made about creativity in the Premier League however the real creators for us are those that create the most clear-cut chances.

[quote]A clear-cut chance is a chance that finds the attacking player with a FREE shot at goal (penalty, one-on-one, only keeper to beat) without any pressure from a defender.[/quote]

As you can see from the view below (created by sorting via CCC (Clear-cut Chances Created) on our Creativity view in the Top Stats area) it is Juan Mata that leads the way. Mata has created seven clear-cut opportunities for his team-mates which should have been dispatched. He is joined in the Top 5 with team-mate Eden Hazard who has five. Samir Nasri may not have played as much but he is also creating clear-cut opportunities for the Champions – six in total so far. Everton’s Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini complete the Top 5 with four clear-cut chances created each.

Want more stats? Use the links below to view the other sections of this article covering Creativity, Passing, Goal Scorers, Tackling and Fouls Conceded. If you wish to have a play on the Stats Centre yourself why not subscribe to our Stats Centre: Subscribe Now to our Stats Centre!

Top 5 Player Stats

Premier League Passing Top 5

No surprises here as Mikel Arteta is Top Dog with the most passes and the most accurate passes in the Premier League so far. Michael Carrick has the most passes forward in the Top 5 with 35.4% of his passes going in the forward direction. However as football metrics become more important one of the metrics everyone is interested in is the Attacking Third passes or Final 3rd passes. We’ll also take a look at these below.

Santi Cazorla has attempted the most passes in the Final 3rd and is also the most accurate. Also Santi has attempted 80% of his passes in the attacking half (I guess this is expected from a forward) but it is much more difficult to complete passes in the attacking half so his achievement here is commendable. Once again Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Juan Mata appear in a Top 5 list however we should compare with the overall Top 5 passers list. Yaya Toure and Santi Cazorla appear in both Top 5 lists showing that they’re on top form and heavily involved in their teams play. Yaya is more of an all-rounder for the Champions – able to drop deep but then also bomb forward – he’s probably the best box-to-box player in the Premier League at the moment.

Want more stats? Use the links below to view the other sections of this article covering Creativity, Passing, Goal Scorers, Tackling and Fouls Conceded. If you wish to have a play on the Stats Centre yourself why not subscribe to our Stats Centre: Subscribe Now to our Stats Centre!

Top 5 Player Stats

Top Goal Scorers

Demba Ba and Robin van Persie lead the way at the Top of the Premier League’s goal scoring charts as both have scored 7 goals. Robin van Persie is scoring at a better rate of a goal every 95.43 minutes compared to Demba Ba’s goal every 105.71 minutes.

Luis Suarez and Michu are next with 6 goals each and Suarez has only despatched 29% of his clear-cut scoring opportunities. In fact the Top 3 strikers in the league all represent clear-cut conversion percentages of less than 50%. Luis Suarez’s shooting accuracy is also the lowest of the Top 5.

Edin Dzeko’s stats haven’t changed from last week and he still has the best minutes per goal value at 55.4 mins per goal and also has the best shooting accuracy (53%) and the best clear-cut chance conversion (75%) of the Top 5 strikers.

Want more stats? Use the links below to view the other sections of this article covering Creativity, Passing, Goal Scorers, Tackling and Fouls Conceded. If you wish to have a play on the Stats Centre yourself why not subscribe to our Stats Centre: Subscribe Now to our Stats Centre!

Top 5 Player Stats

Premier League Ball Winners

Mark Noble and Mikel Arteta are neck and neck at the top of this view with 38 tackles won and the same win percentage of 71.05%. Morgan Schneiderlin is impressing for Southampton with 36 tackles and the best winning percentage in the top 5 with 83.33%.

Unbelievable Mikel Arteta also has the best Aerial Duel win rate in the Top 5 tacklers winning 73.33% of his aerial duels.

There are many ways to win the ball back for your side. Next we’ll look at total possession won back for their teams.

Premier League: Possession Won

Mark Noble and Mikel Arteta are on this list too coming in at number 3 and 4 however it is Liverpool’s Joe Allen that is leading the way with 80 possession wins for his side and now twelve clear of Mulumbu of West Brom. Joe Allen has been an excellent signing for Liverpool giving them strength in central midfield – Lucas Leiva usually dominates the midfield so when Lucas is fit Liverpool should have a very strong centre to build from. Jonas Gutierrez completes the Top 5 with 65 possession wins for Newcastle United.

Want more stats? Use the links below to view the other sections of this article covering Creativity, Passing, Goal Scorers, Tackling and Fouls Conceded. If you wish to have a play on the Stats Centre yourself why not subscribe to our Stats Centre: Subscribe Now to our Stats Centre!

Top 5 Player Stats

Premier League’s Foulers

Marouane Fellaini has conceded the most fouls in the Premier League so far with 27 fouls conceded. Fellaini and Michu have obtained the most bookings in the Top 5 with three each too. Fellaini concedes a foul every 26.48 minutes.

Two Norwich players also make the list – Grant Holt and Bradley Johnson whilst John Obi Mikel is also in the Top 5.

Want more stats? Use the links below to view the other sections of this article covering Creativity, Passing, Goal Scorers, Tackling and Fouls Conceded. If you wish to have a play on the Stats Centre yourself why not subscribe to our Stats Centre: Subscribe Now to our Stats Centre!

Top 5 Player Stats