Sunday analysis: What Stats Zone taught us today
Things we learned today
As we did yesterday, we followed today's Premier League matches using Stats Zone - our multiple award-winning iOS app which is now also available to play with online.
Among the things we noticed in Sunday's top-flight fixtures were a determined Welsh rearguard action and a parade of new faces lighting up the Lane...
Cardiff 3-2 Man City
The main story of the weekend so far is newly-promoted Cardiff's 3-2 win over Manchester City, thanks to two similar second-half goals from Fraizer Campbell, headed in from dangerous corners.
As might have been expected, Man City dominated possession (68.1%) and passing - they completed 561 of their 637 passes compared to Cardiff's 191 of 264. Indeed, Man City almost had as many passes in Cardiff's third (168 completed of 217) as the hosts did all over the pitch.
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However, for all their dominance of the ball, Man City couldn't dominate their hosts in the 18-yard box. Cardiff made 41 successful clearances out of 42, while the visitors completed 23 of 24; Crucially, Cardiff made 22 headed clearances - 18 within their 18-yard box - while Man City only completed 1 in their own box.
Two-goal Fraizer Campbell will get the headlines, particularly given his previous association with Man United, but he deserves them for a tireless display up front. However, let's also hear it for Ben Turner: the centre-back racked up a match-leading 15 clearances as he led the resistance against the visitors.
Analyse it yourself with Stats Zone online
Tottenham 1-0 Swansea
Both teams were efficient in their own way. Unusually, Tottenham didn't have more of the ball - Swansea had 52.2% possession and racked up 511 attempted passes to Spurs' 454 - but still got in 21 goal attempts to Swansea's 7. However, the majority were off target or blocked: Spurs got 7 on target to Swansea's 5.
The game was dominated by Spurs' new faces - quite aside from Roberto Soldado scoring the penalty winner. While that was Soldado's only shot of the afternoon, Paulinho piled up a Vorm-bothering 7 attempts, three of them on-target.
Pulling the strings further back was Nacer Chadli, who created 6 chances (including 2 from corners), twice as many as any other player. However, statistically Spurs' man of the match could well be Etienne Capoue: he contributed an unmatched 7 tackles, an unbeaten 9 ball recoveries and an impressive 57 completed passes out of 63, surpassed only by Swansea's Jose Cañas.
Analyse it yourself with Stats Zone online
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Gary Parkinson is a freelance writer, editor, trainer, muso, singer, actor and coach. He spent 14 years at FourFourTwo as the Global Digital Editor and continues to regularly contribute to the magazine and website, including major features on Euro 96, Subbuteo, Robert Maxwell and the inside story of Liverpool's 1990 title win. He is also a Bolton Wanderers fan.