A few more nuggets from the Stats Zone app, powered by data from Opta...
Joey Barton got straight down to business for his new club QPR against his last one Newcastle last night â as @CounterAttack9 showed the world by sharing the game's Player Influence screen. (The larger the player's name, the more involved he was.) Barton was in the top five players for passes, attacking third passes, chances created, take-ons and tackles â but not fouls, having committed just one all evening.
The Influence screen also displays each player's average position: note how narrow QPR's formation is, despite signing Shaun Wright-Phillips, who enjoyed a busy debut, completing four of six crosses â immediately double that of any other QPR player this season, Adel Taarabt and Barton having completed two each.
Here's SWP's Player Dashboard, which displays all the player's events during the game (or any time period you choose by sliding the handles on the timeline). We've included the key to explain the symbols â click Help at any time on Stats Zone to see immediately relevant explanations.
Before we leave Loftus Road, kudos to Shaun Derry. Hardly a headline-grabber, he nevertheless completed twice as many passes against Newcastle as against Bolton on the opening day. (Using the Head To Head function at the bottom of most screens, you can compare players against themselves or each other, across different matches or disciplines.)
Now for some other things we (and @OptaJoe) noticed over the weekend. We noted yesterday how Manchester United had fewer shots than Bolton despite winning 5-0; further research shows that their chance conversion rate of 29.5% is by far the highest in the league (Man City are second on 19%, Swansea bottom on 0%), as is their shooting accuracy of 60.7% (QPR are lowest with 28.95%). Curiously though, no side has ever won the Premier League after scoring more than 11 goals in their first four gamesâ¦
Provider of the week award should go to Everton's Leighton Baines, who set up nine shots this weekend against Aston Villa. No other Evertonian has set up more than five chances in a game this season.
A nod also to Manchester City's David Silva. Second only in completed passes this weekend to Chelsea's Raul Meireles (Silva made 79 to Meireles' 84), the Spaniard has now completed a round 100 passes in the attacking third this season, more than any Premier League player. As a bonus he also completed six of his seven take-ons on Saturday against Wigan.
They may be goalless after four games but Swansea remain true to their passing style. Only Chelsea, Man City and Man United have made more passes than the Swans' total of 2007 so far this term. Yes, despite being somewhat outpassed at the Emirates on Saturday, over the course of the season they've knocked it around more than Arsenalâ¦
