Statistics after this weekend’s fixtures during matchday 16 have been revealed today and a number of Crystal Palace players feature in the top five of the data sets provided by the EA Sports Player Performance Index.
Returning on-loan winger, Wilfried Zaha was the headline act among the Eagles players this weekend for another reason other than his skill as during the game against Stoke City on Saturday afternoon, the England Under-21 international managed to reach speeds of 35.2 KM/H during his darting runs which made him the fastest player in the Premier League this matchday. That is not the only claim that Zaha has after this weekend as with that speed, he is also the second fastest player in the entire division so far this season only missing out on first place by 0.01 KM/H – a place that is held by Newcastle winger Moussa Sissoko.
Yannick Bolasie who has been in good form recently is the second Palace player to be included among the top performers this matchday with credit going towards the chances he created in the game against the Potters. The DR Congo international who will be absent in January due to the African Cup of Nations, created James McArthur’s first goal for Crystal Palace on Saturday alongside three other key passes which all came in the first half. Steven Davis, Diafra Sakho and Raheem Sterling all managed to equal Bolasie’s tally with only Stewart Downing and Alexis Sanchez creating more chances with five.
The final player of Neil Warnock’s that had a good weekend in terms of statistics this weekend was first time goal scorer for Crystal Palace, James McArthur who tallied up a number of shots on goal alongside the one he did manage to get into the back of the net after 11 minutes against Stoke. The Scottish international had three shots on target alongside Robin van Persie, Wiflried Bony and Stéphane Sessègnon in the Premier League this matchday; only the Liverpool strike pairing Mario Balotelli and Raheem Sterling had more shots on target with five each against Manchester United without much luck.
Despite Crystal Palace’s recent results in the Premier League, the side who sit in 16th currently hold 13th place in the EA SPORTS PPI Club Ranking which is calculated by using the combined score of all of the players that feature for the clubs.
