Statistical Preview: West Brom vs Tottenham

West Brom’s victory over Norwich last weekend saw them move to 16^th in the Premier League; equal on points with 17^th place Norwich.

  The victory at Norwich was the Baggies’ 3^rd away win of the season and just their 6^th league win.  West Brom have a tough run in to the end of the season with fixtures against the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal.  Pepe Mel’s men will want to seize every opportunity against Spurs this weekend if they are to guarantee Premier League survival.

Morgan Amalfitano opened the scoring for the Baggies after 15 minutes with a superb strike.  The Frenchman has scored 4 times in 23 appearances placing him as the Baggies joint top scorer with Saido Berahino. Amalfitano has had 10 shots on target this season out of a possible 19; that’s a shot accuracy of 53%.

West Brom certainly looked the better side against Norwich, with their defence solid and Stephane Sessegnon and Matej Vydra threatening in attack.  The EA SPORTS Player Performance Index shows that Sessegnon provided the foundation for West Brom’s attacking moves, successfully completing 22 passes in the Norwich half.  He has completed 430 passes in the opposition half this season and has 69 attacking contributions (shots on target, assists, dribbles and crosses) to his name.

Jonas Olsson will be fundamental in West Brom’s attempts to stop the attacking threats of Adebayor and Eriksen.  The Swedish defender has made an impressive 345 defensive contributions (tackles won, clearances, interceptions and blocks) of which 22 were made against Norwich last weekend.

Tottenham will be confident ahead of their trip to West Brom after their 5-1 demolition of Sunderland.  Tim Sherwood’s men came from behind to convincingly beat the Black Cats who are rooted at the bottom of the table.  Tottenham are currently in 6^th place with 59 points and will want to take make every game count in their quest for European football next year. 

Once again, Adebayor looked lethal in front of goal; bagging himself a brace in his side's 5-1 rout of struggling Sunderland. Adebayor has found impressive form under Spurs boss Sherwood with 10 goals in 16 Premier League appearances; making him Tottenham’s top scorer.  The EA SPORTS Player Performance Index shows that he has had 19 shots on target this season out of a possible 28; that’s an accuracy of 68%. 

Christian Eriksen has frequently provided Tottenham with a creative spark this season.  The Dane was integral to his sides fightback against the Black Cats, providing 9 attacking contributions (shots on target, assists, crosses and dribbles) including 2 assists. The EA SPORTS Player Performance Index shows that he has made 65 attacking contributions this season and has provided an impressive 7 assists.

Younes Kaboul looked impressive in defence last week. Winning 100% of the 3 tackles he made, Kaboul also made 13 defensive contributions (tackles won, clearances, blocks and interceptions); more than any of his teammates.  Fans will hope that he is similarly impressive in defence against the Baggies.