Newcastle United face QPR in the Premier League at St James’ Park this afternoon, but will be without two of their key men. Top goalscorer Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote, who covers every blade of grass, are both away at the African Cup of Nations. This is why Alan Pardew will miss them…
• Newcastle put on an impressive display to beat defending champions Manchester United 3-0 in their last Barclays Premier League match.
• Goals from Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, and an own goal from Phil Jones secured maximum points for Newcastle on that day, with Cabaye’s midfield partner Cheick Tiote covering the most ground with 5.92 miles.
• Newcastle remain the team to have covered the most ground in the Barclays Premier League, amassing 1415 miles in total.
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• Demba Ba won the Barclays Premier League player of the month for December.
• The in-form striker has hit 15 goals from 50 efforts, converting just under one in three chances on goal. Ba has also contributed four assists and covered 96.78 miles for the Newcastle cause – an impressive total for a striker.
• New QPR manager Mark Hughes takes over following a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Norwich in QPR’s last league game.
• Alejandro Faurlin covered the most ground for QPR in that game with 5.86 miles, and is fourth in the table for most ground covered overall this season with a massive 128.6 miles.
• Joey Barton scored for QPR in that game before seeing red. Barton has covered 90.88 miles for QPR since joining from Newcastle.
• That was Barton’s second league goal of the season, though he has also contributed four assists.
• Barton now shares the worst disciplinary record in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index with seven bookings and one red card this season, though he has also won 83% of tackles attempted.
Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the official player rating index of the Barclays Premier League.
