Things you didn't know you didn't know about last season
It's not long now until FourFourTwo's Stats Zone app, powered by data from Opta, is available to the public. Ahead of the launch we've been playing with it in the office, losing hours and gaining bags under our eyes as we attempt to out-stat one another.
Meanwhile, over at Opta the experts were applying their own knowledge and sharing it with us â that being what the app's for, after all. So here are some of the statistical peaks from last season's Premier League, as searchable on the new Stats Zone app...
Most chances created in a single game: 11
Florent Malouda (Birmingham 1-0 Chelsea, 20 Nov)
Malouda may be accused of inconsistency â last week, Champions editor Paul Simpson said he "can drift so completely out of a game that his very existence becomes the subject of abstruse philosophical debate" â but the Frenchman was bang on the money at St. Andrew's.
Besides creating almost a dozen opportunities he completed 72 of his 101 passes, his importance highlighted by the Player Influence screen â the bigger the name, the bigger the influence (with names placed in the player's average position). Sadly for Florent and Chelsea is was all to no avail, as they lost 1-0.
Most headed shots in a single game:
Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Liverpool 1-2 Blackpool, 3 Oct)
Leon Best (Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal, 5 Feb)
The big Greek centre-back boomed in a header to halve Liverpool's deficit at Anfield. Perhaps Roy Hodgson's side should have tried the same gambit more often: in a game of only three completed crosses, Blackpool held on â unlike Arsenal at St James' Park, as Best led Newcastle's more successful second-half onslaught (18 of their 24 shots came after the break).
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Most shots in a single game: 10
Samir Nasri (Arsenal 2-3 West Brom, 25 Sep)
Andy Carroll (Newcastle 1-3 Man City, 26 Dec)
Daniel Sturridge (Bolton 3-0 West Ham, 9 Apr)
No happy endings here, either. Against the Baggies Arsenal had 28 attempts but only six on target; of Nasri's 10 attempts, only three were on target and two went in, and the Gunners lost to a team who scored three from just eight shots.
Also racking up double figures were Andy Carroll for Newcastle v Man City (he didn't score and the Mags lost 3-1) and Daniel Sturridge for Bolton v West Ham (he scored two and Bolton won... but were then hammered in the FA Cup semi-final).
Most successful passes (opposition half) in a single game: 70
John Obi Mikel (Chelsea 3-0 West Ham, 23 Apr)
The Nigerian midfielder proved he was more than a destroyer by making 70 of his 95 completed passes within opposition territory. True, none were devastatingly intrusive, but that's not his main job.
Team-mate Didier Drogba, on the other hand, collected last season's only hat-trick of assists in August's 6-0 demolition of Wigan â well known to hardcore stats buffs as "the game with no corners"â¦
FEATURE, July 27: Inside Opta
FEATURE, July 22: More screenshots