Statistical preview to the Premier League, featuring Manchester City vs Tottenham, Crystal Palace vs Chelsea and QPR vs Liverpool
WhoScored.com, who offer the largest online database for detailed football statistics, preview the top matches the Premier League this weekend on behalf of The Independent
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Manchester City vs Tottenham
The overriding memory of Tottenham's last trip to the Etihad is that of Jesús Navas starting things off with one of the fastest ever Premier League goals and the floodgates remaining open for the next 90 minutes. City ran out 6-0 victors in what was one of former manager André Villas-Boas' lowest points in charge of the club. In the reverse fixture Spurs' next boss Tim Sherwood oversaw a 5-1 defeat.
Now with Mauricio Pochettino at the helm, fans will be hoping for a less embarrassing time of things in this weekend's clash, Saturday's lunchtime kick off. Pochettino himself, however, succumbed to a 4-1 defeat at City last season and although that would be an improvement for Spurs, his record will hardly fill his new club with confidence.
Spurs conceded 25 goals in 6 games against the eventual top three last season (4.2 per game) whilst shipping only 26 goals in their other 32 matches (0.8 per game). The level of misery that those defeats brought to the club induced the two changes of management, but after another capitulation at home to Liverpool earlier this season, it does not look like the current man in charge, Pochettino, will be able to prevent another defeat.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
A John Terry own goal separated the teams in this fixture last season in one of the games against lesser opposition in which Chelsea dropped precious points in the title race. This Chelsea team, however, looks like a well-oiled machine, rampaging relentlessly towards the title, and does not look at all like slipping up in a game like this one.
This will be the first major test Crystal Palace have faced at home this season, and having scored only 3 goals at Selhurst Park against West Ham, Burnley and Leicester so far this season, they may need another helping hand from Chelsea's defence.
At the other end, the Blues are firing on all cylinders, led by the lethal combination of Cesc Fàbregas and Diego Costa. The former has 7 Premier League assists already, while the latter has scored 9 goals; both tallies are just 1 behind the totals Crystal Palace have managed in total. That duo alone could have enough to tear Palace apart this weekend.
QPR vs Liverpool
Two teams undergoing relative struggles in the Premier League face off at Loftus Road, with newly-promoted and bottom of the table QPR hosting last season's runners up but currently ninth-placed Liverpool.
Harry Redknapp's side have hinted at improvements that will be sufficient to keep them in the top flight, but have also slumped to heavy defeats against the better teams they have come up against. Their home record (won 1, drawn 1, lost 1) is not the worst but they will need to improve given how poor they have been on the road (4 losses from 4 with only 1 goal scored and 12 goals conceded).
Liverpool, meanwhile, are struggling to adapt to life without Luis Suarez, with Mario Balotelli misfiring since his move to Anfield. The Italian has had more shots (23) than any other goalless player in Europe's top 5 leagues this season, but he will never be lacking in confidence and attempting 4.6 shots per game, the goals will surely start flowing eventually.
Both teams need three points on Sunday to boost the chances of achieving their respective goals this season, and with both sides having dropped plenty of points already this season, the spoils are there to be taken.
All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find yet more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team ratings.
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