Newcastle United host Aston Villa at St James’ Park, with Karim El-Ahmadi one Villain the Magpies will particularly need to look out for. Here’s a few stats ahead of the match…
• Newcastle were helpless to prevent Chelsea beating them 2-0 in their last game, as goals from Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres condemned them to defeat.
• New Newcastle signing Vurnon Anita gave away a penalty in the game for Chelsea’s first goal, but worked hard to make amends covering more ground than any other Newcastle player with 6.32 miles.
• Demba Ba was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet and also clocked the fastest top speed among the Newcastle squad with 20.15 mph.
• Young defender James Perch came of age last season amongst Newcastle’s defensive injury crisis, and he has now completed more successful passes in the attacking third than any other defender with 29.
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• Karim El-Ahmadi scored a consolation goal for Villa at the weekend in their 3-1 loss to Everton, and also covered more ground than any other Villa player with 6.7 miles.
• Despite the result, Villa’s overall distance covered 65.88 miles against Everton, the second furthest distance covered by a team so far this season.
• The performances of young full back Matthew Lowton have also been a plus, as he has made more attacking runs off the ball than any other player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance index with 112, one more than spurs striker Jermain Defoe.
• El-Ahmadi has been a positive among a difficult start to the season, and Newcastle will need to watch out for the midfielder. Comparing the two teams head to head, El-Ahmadi has completed more passes in his opponent’s area than any other player with 45, just ahead of Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa who has completed 40 passes in his opponent’s half.
• The top five players for tackles won, when comparing the two teams head to head, are also all Villa players, led by Nathan Baker with 8. Newcastle’s top tackler is, surprisingly, Jonas Gutierrez who has won 4 tackles so far this season.
Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the official player rating index of the Barclays Premier League.
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Which all suggests that Lambert is buying young & hungry players but his style of football has yet to gel. I suspect the second half of the season will be very profitable for Villa, but the first half difficult.
I predict a 3 – 1 win to Newcastle.