Newcastle United face West Brom at The Hawthorns in the Premier League this afternoon and the tough tackling Baggies will provide a stern test for the Magpies. It will be interesting to see whether Alan Pardew starts with two up top and despite Demba Ba’s recent goal drought, he still has a better shots per goal ratio than Papiss Cisse…
• Paul Scharner scored an equaliser for West Brom in their 1-1 draw with Wigan, the last time the Baggies saw Premier League action.
• West Brom have the best tackles won percentage in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, winning an impressive 76% of all tackles attempted.
• West Brom also have the player who has made the most clearances in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, in Jonas Olsson. Olsson has made 72 clearances so far this season.
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• Newcastle earned a hard fought 1-0 win over Norwich in their last Premier League game, with Papiss Cisse scoring the winning goal.
• Cisse turned in a brilliant Jonas Gutierrez cross to give the Magpies their 13th win of the season.
• Cisse has three goals so far this season from 14 attempts at goal, although the striker is still behind team mate Demba Ba for chances converted. Cisse has averaged 4.67 shots per goal, while over the season Ba has needed just 4.18 shots per goal.
• Gutierrez’s recent performances have seen him move up the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to third for overall distance covered with 168.7 miles covered.
• Newcastle have both full backs in the top ten for defenders for crossing the ball. Only Leighton Baines has put in more crosses this season than Ryan Taylor, with Taylor delivering 76 compared to Baines’ 88.
• Simpson is sixth among defenders for crossing, having delivered 52 crosses this season. Spurs are the only other team to have both full backs in the top ten.
• Ryan Taylor has also had more shots on goal than any other defender in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, having 40 attempts at goal so far this season with 53% on target.
Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the official player rating index of the Barclays Premier League.
