EA Sports once again fill us with facts ahead of the Stoke City's eagerly anticipated visit to St Mary's on Saturday, what are the chances of Saints repeating their 8-0 drubbing of Sunderland.
Southampton continue to defy all the early season doubters and will no doubt be overjoyed after last weekend’s emphatic 8-0 win over Sunderland. Southampton sit in third place and boast the best defensive record in the league, having conceded only five goals so far this season.
Dusan Tadic has been a highlight in Southampton’s season so far and the winger is now joint on assists with Cesc Fabregas at the top of the charts with seven assists, after assisting four goals in the win over Southampton. Tadic has attempted more crosses than anybody else in the league with 70, seventeen more than the next highest, Kieran Trippier of Burnley. Tadic’s direct approach is clearly paying off, as reflected by his assist record.
Only six players have covered more distance in a single game than Jack Cork did last weekend, running a total of 12.5km in the 8-0 win and to top things off his tireless running was rewarded with a goal. The midfielder also had an average speed of 7.8km/h last weekend according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.
Graziano Pelle has yet again built on his impressive start for Southampton, bagging a brace last weekend. Pelle has now scored six goals in eight games with 0.76 goals per 90 minutes. The striker has exactly 50% of shots on target, according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, and is almost certain to provide a threat against Stoke this weekend.
Stoke won last time out, beating Swansea 2-1 helping them climb in to the top half of the table. Mark Hughes’ side will be hoping to bring some consistency to their results by picking up another three points against the Saints.
Victor Moses has the fourth most successful dribbling record in the Premier League, having completed 19 successful dribbles so far this season according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Seven of these came last weekend against Swansea, leading to both the winning of a penalty and an assist. Moses was withdrawn after 73 minutes but will be hoping to start again this weekend.
Defender Marc Wilson is in the top ten players in the Premier League for number of clearances. The Irishman has cleared his lines 73 times over the course of the season, averaging out at just over nine clearances per game, according to the EA
SPORTS Player Performance Index. Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross sits just behind him on 70 clearances.
Shawcross has also made the fourth most blocks in the division too. Shawcross has often put his body on the line and has provided the all-important block on eleven separate occasions already this season, according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance.
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.