Burnley are defending well – the stats say
Burnley might well have won only one of the first five games this season in the Premier League but we are coming out in top in some disciplines according to the league.
Not many years ago it was only about the result, who scored the most goals and who picked up the most points, but now there are stats for just about everything. Sky Sports News bore us to death with some of their comparison stats between players, some of which I don’t even understand.
This morning I was alerted to the list of top ten runners and yes, you’ve guessed it, George Boyd is right at the top of the list having covered 61.6km in those games, an average of 12.32km per game. He is the only Burnley player in the list with two Liverpool players, Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana, taking the next two places. They are the only club with two players in that top ten.
Do we lead the field in any other discipline I thought, well the stats aren’t difficult to find and yes we are with Tom Heaton, Michael Keane and Ben Mee all currently holding a first place which, I suppose, highlights the fact that we’ve had a lot of defending to do.
Heaton leads the way with the most saves. He’s made 24 and that’s two more than Hull’s Eldin Jakupovic and a further two more than Jordan Pickford at Sunderland. He’s made the top five for goals conceded too, but, with eight, he’s a long way behind Stoke’s Shay Given who has picked the ball out of the net on no fewer than fourteen occasions.
When it comes to clearances, Mee is right up there in first place. He’s made 46 and that’s one ahead of Curtis Davies at Hull and Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen. He can only take fourth place, however, when it comes to headed clearances. His 27 is this time beaten by Davies who has made 28 and by Everton’s Phil Jagielka who has made 30. Top though with 32 is Ben’s central defensive partner Keane who has made 32 headed clearances.
As a team we’ve made more clearances than any other . It’s only one more than Swansea with Hull and Tottenham next.
That’s all been about defending which is probably no surprise but we are top of one attacking discipline and that’s with goals from outside the box. No one can match our three, scored by Sam Vokes and Andre Gray against Liverpool and Steven Defour against Hull. I’d love that to increase on Monday night just as I’d love to see us get off the march with goals from inside the box; currently we are the only Premier League team not to feature and we are some way behind Manchester City who have netted on thirteen occasions from within the box.
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