Stoke secured an important point at home to Cardiff on Wednesday as they played out a 0-0 draw ahead of a weekend visit from a dangerous Chelsea side.
No Stoke player can compete with Steven N’Zonzi this season when it comes to midfield influence this season. He’s completed a huge 424 passes in the opponent’s half this season according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, a full 213 passes ahead of his nearest rival in Geoff Cameron.
Once again defender Ryan Shawcross continues to lead the way in terms of Stoke’s defensive statistics. The big centre half has racked up a very impressive 135 total defensive contributions (tackles won, blocks, interceptions, clearances) so far this season, the highest in the Stoke squad.
Charlie Adam remains Stoke’s most effective player in front of goal this season, working the opposition goalkeeper with solid regularity. He’s compiled a 62.5% shot accuracy rate from 16 total attempts on goal this term. Adam is an industry best 6/1 with 888sport.com to score at any time this weekend.
In a rollercoaster of match, Chelsea eventually emerged as 3-4 winners at the Stadium of Light to take all three points back to London. Jose Mourinho will have been especially pleased with the performance of Eden Hazard who turned in his personal display of the season so far as he tormented the Sunderland defence all evening.
Ramires has found himself guilty of defensive indiscretions with more regularity than he would like this season, conceding the third highest amount of fouls in the league so far (29). However, this is probably unsurprising for such a combative defensive midfielder with his stamina levels and the joint highest number of attempted challenges this season with 81.
Talented winger Eden Hazard tormented Sunderland at times on Wednesday night with his mesmerising array of tricks and wonderful technique. Unsurprisingly, according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index he completed more dribbles than any other player in the league in the last round of fixtures with 12.
Chelsea fans will be hoping that Oscar recovers from his knock sooner rather than later given that the young Brazilian has been one of the Blues’ leading lights this season. He’s racked up an impressive 325 passes in the opponent’s half this campaign, at an average rate of one every 2.97 minutes he’s been on the pitch.
Frank Lampard’s hunger for goals appears not to be diminishing with age with Chelsea’s veteran still getting into great positions in and around the box. He’s joint first in the Chelsea squad for total attempts on goal with 25. He’s 27/11 to score at any time with 888sport.com this weekend.