Match Day 16 is complete in the Premier League and as we edge closer to the half way point we thought we’d give you an update on some of the very interesting stats from our Stats Centre’s Top Stats Area. In this short article we’re going to look at the number of clear-cut chances that strikers have faced this season – we’ll let you know which players have faced the most and their conversion rates. We’ll also be looking at total chances created but also how often players are creating these chances in open play or by set play. A few other areas we’ll cover include Total Possession Wins, Most Fouls won and conceded. So let’s get to looking at the Top 5 players from all of these areas!

You can either use the Quick Navigation links below to go through the pages or use the page numbers at the bottom of each page!

Clear-Cut Chances Faced

Below is a screen grab from our Stats Centre’s Top Stats Area and it’s Robin van Persie that has been presented with the most clear-cut chances by his team-mates – a total of 16. Unfortunately his clear-cut chance conversion is only 31% – Manchester United would be even further ahead at the top of the Premier League had RVP converted more of his chances. Surprisingly Luis Suarez’s conversion rate for clear-cut chances is better than van Persie’s at 43%. For the Top 5 players who have had the most clear-cut chances it is Demba Ba with the best conversion rate on 45%. Arouna Kone and Olivier Giroud perform poorly here with 23% and 17% conversions for chances that are pretty much sitters. Both Wigan and Arsenal could have done with these chances being converted!

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Clear-Cut Chances Faced | Frequency of Chances Created | Most Possession Wins

Most Fouls Won & Conceded | Most Woodwork Hits

Frequency of Chances Created via Open Play

The purpose of showing these stats are to give you a different flavour for the chances created statistics. There are a lot of stats distributed about which players have created the most etc. However what matters most is who is creating the chances the most often? No?

The stats below show you which players are the most creative from open-play. Steven Pienaar tops the list creating an open-play chance every 25.59 minutes – he has three goal assists to his name this season too and has created a total of 40 chances (in the Top 5 for most chances created in the league too.)

Adel Taarabt, Rickie Lambert, Luis Suarez and David Silva make up the Top 5 and you’d expect to see two of them in the top 5 but the graphic below shows how important Rickie Lambert and Adel Taarabt are for their teams – QPR fans must be wishing for better conversion rates from their strikers/midfielders. There’s not much between the Top 3 here at all – in fact less than 15 seconds separate the three of them.

Frequency of Chances Created via Set-Play

Nicky Shorey leads the way by some margin for frequent chances created via Open-Play. He is creating a chance via set-play every 40 minutes and if you watched the recent Reading Vs Manchester United game you would have witnessed his set-plays in action. He created two goals in that game via corners – he has four assists so far this season and this will only improve. Nicky Shorey is vital to Reading’s campaign. No surprise that the League’s leading creator Leighton Baines appears in this list creating a set-play chance, just under, every 50 minutes. Barry Bannan, Mark Noble and Esteban Granero also appear in this list.

Over the two creation areas it’s surprising that QPR have a player in each of the Top 5 lists – they really need to start putting some of these chances away if they wish to stay in the Premier League.

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Clear-Cut Chances Faced | Frequency of Chances Created | Most Possession Wins

Most Fouls Won & Conceded | Most Woodwork Hits

Most Possession Wins

No surprises in the Top 2 players here – Liverpool’s Joe Allen and West Brom’s Youssuf Mulumbu are expected to be at the top of this list. Whilst Joe Allen’s performances may have suffered of late he’s continually won possession for Liverpool this season. His importance outlined by the fact that he has started every game for Liverpool so far. Youssuf Mulumbu has been a defensive stallwart at West Brom for the last few years – Mulumbu would fit into a European placed side easily as, in our opinion, he is one of the most under-rated players in the Premier League.

You’d expect defensive midfielders Michael Carrick and Mark Noble to appear in this list but Leon Osman is a surprise? Osman’s not far away from Carrick and this shows his importance to the Everton side – he works hard and is key to their pressing game. Out of the Top 5 it is Leon Osman that wins the ball back the most often in the Final Third (MAP column below), whilst Mulumbu wins the most often in the Defensive third and Joe Allen in the midfield third.

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Clear-Cut Chances Faced | Frequency of Chances Created | Most Possession Wins

Most Fouls Won & Conceded | Most Woodwork Hits

Most Fouled and Most Fouls Conceded

Eden Hazard is the most fouled player in the League so far – being fouled 42 times already and he wins a foul every 31.49 minutes. Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling is next on 37 fouls won and surprisingly a full-back appears at third place – Danny Rose.

Jonas Gutierrez and Steven Pienaar are also players that dribble with the ball frequently so you’d expect their fouls won to be high as you would from the top 2.

Grant Holt continues to be the player that gives away the most free-kicks. His presence up-top seems to be penalised a lot when going for aerial duels or ground duels. He’s not necessarily a dirty player – as free kicks are given for a variety of reasons! Fellaini at second place is expected – his strong style and pressing will see him commit many fouls. Mikel Arteta, Charile Adam and Bradley Johnson make up the Top 5. It’s surprising to see Arteta here however Charlie Adam has a knack of giving away free kicks!

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Clear-Cut Chances Faced | Frequency of Chances Created | Most Possession Wins

Most Fouls Won & Conceded | Most Woodwork Hits

Most Woodwork hits this season

A more simple graphic below – Robin van Persie has hit the woodwork the most this season – 5 times in his 14 starts! Gareth Bale and Marouane Fellaini have hit the woodwork 4 times whilst David Silva and Jason Puncheon have hit it 3 times each!

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Clear-Cut Chances Faced | Frequency of Chances Created | Most Possession Wins

Most Fouls Won & Conceded | Most Woodwork Hits