It is a known fact that the Premier League is the most popular football league in the world but can we consider it the best in terms of pure on-the-field action? Compared to other players from the top five European leagues, quite a few Chelsea stars are among the best in various individual categories.
Opta-powered fantasy football game Oulala.com broke five most popular European leagues down, piece by piece.
On a per game basis, the stats from this season show that the Bundesliga leads the way in terms of number of goals. On average, the fans have seen 2.84 goals per match which outranks the other four rival leagues. However, the scoring king comes from La Liga. Cristiano Ronaldo has found the net 30 times this season. Together with City’s Sergio Aguero, Diego Costa is the fourth best European scorer with 14 goals.
The number of shots often distinguishes between attacking or defensive football. Serie A holds the first place in this category ahead of the Bundesliga and the Premier League where Chelsea hold the third place with 15,6 shots per game.
Using the most recent data, we also took a look at assists. It is the Bundesliga that leads the way with 1.9 assists per match. Two Chelsea players – one former and one current – Cesc Fabregas and Kevin de Bruyne both top the list with 15 assists.
Let’s check the passes. On average the team in the German Championship creates almost 450 passes per match, which is slightly more than in England.
The Bundesliga is apparently also the best place for players who like to dribble, although the No. 1 dribbler comes from the Premier League. Eden Hazard has successfully completed 121 attempts this season.
Tackles are an important tool of defensive play and here is where Ligue 1 finally comes on top with more than 42 tackles per game. The No. 1 player with most successful tackles is SM Caen’s N’Golo Kanté (110), followed by Udinese midfielder Allan (84) and Blues’ powerhouse in the midfield Nemanja Matic (74).
The graph of fouls suggests that the dirtiest football is played in Serie A. According to our research, the Italian referees call an average of 9 fouls per game more than in the English top tier. No surprise that the most fouled player is Chievo’s Perparim Hetemaj (98), followed by former Fiorentina star Juan Cuadrado (90 in total) who has suffered three fouls as a Chelsea player.
However, the most strict referees come from the Spanish Championship. In fact, the top three players with the most yellow cards all play for La Liga clubs.
If you may wonder why Germany are FIFA World Cup Champions, these stats could be a part of the answer.
