EA Sports bring us all the facts and figures ahead of the Premier League fixture at the Liberty Stadium against Swansea City
Swansea and Southampton currently both occupy Champions League positions in the league table and both clubs will be hoping to retain their positions high up the table. Southampton will be full of confidence after the 4-0 win over Newcastle, whereas Swansea will be keen to ensure defeat to Chelsea doesn’t have a massive impact on their impressive early season form.
Swansea defender Ashley Williams still tops the charts in terms of clearances. The Welshman has cleared his lines 48 times so far this season, according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Williams made thirteen of his total clearances in the recent game against Chelsea.
Midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has also recorded some impressive statistics this season. The midfielder, more renowned for his attacking ability has made the most successful tackles out of any Swansea player, dispossessing the opposition ten times in the first four games according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
Arguably Swansea’s most impressive player this season has been Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Icelandic midfielder has recorded four assists in as many games, and has an 86.5% pass completion rate, according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Sigurdsson has also covered the most ground of any player in the Premier League, running a total of 50.06km, averaging out at 12.52km per game.
The player closest to Sigurdsson in terms of distance covered is Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin. The French international has managed to run 49.84km in the Premier League, which is on average only 60m less per game than Sigurdsson, according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Schneiderlin has three goals so far this season and is 6/1 to score with 888sport. An interesting battle looks set to occur this weekend when these two come head to head.
Dusan Tadic has delivered the most successful number of crosses out of anyone in the top tier of English football. The winger has supplied some dangerous balls in, mainly towards the target man Graziano Pellè and with eight successful crosses so far this season the Serbian winger could be a major threat this weekend if his EA SPORTS Player Performance Index statistics are anything to go by.
Tadic’s partnership with Pellè looks to be working, as the striker has not only recorded the second greatest number of shots on target in the Premier League (six) this season, but also scored three goals in his first four games in English football. He will certainly be one to watch for the Swansea defence this weekend.
Data supplied by the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Select and manage your own team of stars at fantasy.premierleague.com or with FIFA Ultimate Team for FIFA 14.