Reading through a recent post published on EPL Index titled “Premier League 2011/12 – Top Creators & Their Positions” the top 2 chance creators last season were David Silva and Juan Mata for Manchester City and Chelsea respectively. Indeed, over the course of Euro 2012, one talking point was Spain’s consistent use of 6 midfielders. Juan Mata was often resigned to the bench (only appearing for the last 5 minutes or so of the final, scoring Spain’s 88th minute fourth goal) and David Silva, who scored twice in the competition and was a regular in the Spanish starting XI.

This leads me onto the theme for this article:

David Silva Vs Juan Mata

How do their Premier League statistics compare? Was Del Bosque wrong to ignore Juan Mata? How similar are they as players? What should we expect from them in 2012/2013?

On the surface, it’s already a very interesting comparison:

They’re both Spanish internationals.

They can both play as attacking midfielders, left or right wingers, or in a ‘centre forward’ role, behind a sole striker.

They’re both set piece specialists, regularly taking their clubs’ corners and free kicks.

They’re both predominantly left-footed.

Here is an out-and-out comparison of their key statistics, pulled from the EPLIndex Opta Stats Centre (Subscribe Now!) for last season’s Premier League:

The stats highlighted in yellow show it’s not just their personal attributes that are remarkably similar! –

Goals? Both scored 6

Total shots? Both on 55.

Chance Conversion? Both 11%.

Goal Assists (Set Plays)? Both on 6.

Maybe spookily of all:

Chance Creation (Open Play Non-Assists): Silva 77 / Mata 63

Chance Creation (Set-play Non-Assists): Silva 12 / Mata 26

Total Chance Creation (Non-Assists): Silva 89 / Mata 89