Newcastle face Wigan in the Premier League this weekend and remain unbeaten after coming back from behind twice to secure a draw against Tottenham. Only the two Manchester clubs are also unbeaten in the league, a remarkable effort by the Magpies.
Demba Ba continued his brilliant run with his 5th goal in three games. His run is reflected in his move up the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index table. He is now ranked 34th.
Ba has hit 64% of his 14 shots on target this season.
Shola Ameobi also got on the scoresheet against Spurs, and has moved up 43 places in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index 182nd.
Newcastle continued the hard work that has them second in the table for most ground covered this season (behind Norwich) by covering just over 118km against Spurs.
[ad_pod id=’unruly-video’ align=’right’]
Yohan Cabaye and Cheik Tiote were once again the top distance coverers with 12078m and 11339m covered respectively. Since Joey Barton left Newcastle the midfield pair have been the top two for ground covered in all but one game (against Aston Villa when Ryan Taylor was second after Cabaye).
Newcastle will need to find a way to beat Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, who has won more tackles than any other player in the Premier League with 37, an incredible 97% of those attempted and 10 more than the next most successful tackler, Chelsea’s Ashley Cole. Figueroa has also made 18 interceptions.
Wigan midfielder Ben Watson will also give Newcastle a tough time, and is 4th in the tackling table having won 25 tackles this season 93% of those attempted. Watson has also made 20 interceptions.
Mohamed Diame completes a Wigan hat trick of player in the top ten tacklers having won 24 tackles (83% of those attempted).
Wigan lost 3-1 against Bolton last weekend despite them clocking up 133.6km, 13.8km more than their opponents.
Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the official player rating index of the Barclays Premier League.
