How does Gylfi compare to players playing for the nation's biggest clubs?
With the international break seeing a dearth of Swansea-related news, what better time to have a look at some stats? Everybody loves stats - right? With the incredible form we've seen Gylfi Sigurdsson enjoy so far this season I thought an interesting exercise would be to see how he stacked up against players who play in a similar position, or who have a similar role in the team, for the league's biggest and best.
Firstly, let's look at the obvious. Assists. Gylfi & Cesc are both currently joint top of the assist charts, having created an incredible six goals apiece. As you can see, in terms of "per ninety minutes" (as most of these stats are, for further reference), Cesc just nudges him having played a game less. Still, not bad for a player we didn't actually pay any money for!
Next up, let's have a look at key passes. David Silva is way out in front, and when you look at the amount of total passes played per ninety minutes, it's no surprise the players who play the most passes play the most key passes. That said, 1.75 key passes per ninety is no mean effort from Gylfi, and if he keeps that up for the entire season he'll break all kinds of club records.
Staying with passing, let's turn to accuracy. I was surprised Gylfi's is so low compared to the others to be honest, but given the Icelander is charged almost exclusively with creating all of our goal threat it's perhaps no surprise that his numbers are slightly below the other players featured here. Silva, Fabregas et al can rely on others to create and score goals - with the Swans that still rings true...just not quite so loudly.
More passing! I thought I'd include the image below as it links well with what I was just talking about, in that the more dominant a team is in possession, and the more another team has to worry about multiple threats, the easier it becomes to knock the ball around. Chelsea have been rampant and
unsurprisingly this has resulted in huge passing statistics for Cesc. In Gylfi's case, he's obviously the focal point for our attack, so opponents look to close him down, doubling up on him.
Moving on from passing now, let's look at fouls and duels. Firstly, fouls committed - and as you can see Gylfi fares well, not being penalised too often. Less than a foul a game is an outstanding effort from someone who spends the entire match charging around selflessly trying to get the ball back.
The same chart, arranged by tackles made per ninety minutes, and again Gylfi is faring well. Remember, these are players playing for clubs who'd hope and expect to compete in the Champions League - for Gylfi to be up near these guys in terms of numbers (even after a short period of time in the long slog that is a Premier League season) really is spectacular.
Another graphic from the same table, this time organised by total duels per ninety. Gylfi again holds up well, while Silva's numbers are incredible.
Defensive actions next, and this is where the Gylf shines. Well, as well as having had six assists in seven games - which is pretty shiny in fairness. I only needed one image for this set of data, because Gylfi is top across the board. Anyone who's watched him play this season will attest that his work-rate is simply phenomenal, and he's come back to us a much better player than during his last stint here.
Last but not least, shots. Firstly, here's the shot accuracy. Boom!
Then I arranged the same table by total shots per ninety. I would have included a goals table but Squawka wouldn't allow it, due to Cesc's lack of a goal! For what it's worth Mata has two, while Gylfi, Ozil & Silva have one each.
It doesn't surprise me that Gylfi has enjoyed less shots per game than the other players he's compared against - as I've mentioned I think he's liable to be more closely marked due to how obvious a focal point he is for us, and for him to have had the return he's had so far this season is unbelievable. He's also scored in his last two outings for Iceland (both screamers), and he scored against Everton in the League Cup. He really is on fire at the moment, and if the rest of the team around him clicks goals will most certainly not be a problem.
So far, 2014/15 is proving to be a special season for Gylfi Sigurdsson. If he keeps his cool and continues to work at the feverish rate he has so far, the sky is the limit.
All stats sourced from http://www.squawka.com