Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea play host to Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League tonight in a clash that will be vital in deciding the 2018/2019 top four.
The Blues head into the encounter on the back of a spirited performance in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday, but one that ultimately ended in a defeat in a penalty shootout. And an incident involving goalkeeper Kepa and manager Sarri did nothing to quell off-field distractions such as the uncertain future of the Italian boss and a two-window transfer ban handed to the club by FIFA last week.
Meanwhile, Spurs are suffering with a few problems of their own ahead of the 8pm GMT kick-off in west London, after a result on Saturday that dealt their aspirations of clinching a maiden PL title a huge blow. This was, of course, the 2-1 defeat to Sean Dyche’s Burnley at Turf Moor.
Ahead of tonight’s crucial London derby, we are going to compare the two teams’ star strikers, Gonzalo Higuain for the hosts and Harry Kane for the visitors, to predict which one will enjoy the better Wednesday evening at the Bridge. Join us.
Statistical comparison
The comparison that we’re going to be making just a few hours ahead of west London’s highest-ranked team going head-to-head with north London’s highest-ranked team is a statistical one. To carry this out, we’re using the below image, provided by our good friends over at whoscored.com.
As you can see, the graphic contains an overview of the forwards’ statistics from the 2018/2019 season so far in the league. The reason Higuain’s are from his time at AC Milan in Serie A while Kane’s are with Spurs is that that’s where he has spent the bulk of the campaign, before moving to Chelsea on loan in the January transfer window.
You may also notice that, whilst both have struggled with injuries this term, Kane has played much more, many more matches and minutes, hence why he’s scored 11 more goals and poached four more assists than his opposite number.
But, the Argentine man has registered more shots per match and key passes per match, even if the England captain takes five of the last six stats in our comparison, dribbles per game in ’18/19, fouls drawn per game, offsides per game, number of times dispossessed per game and average WhoScored match rating. Meanwhile, Higuain does average fewer poor touches per game.
Summary
In conclusion, as you may have already worked out, when we total up the scores of our comparison in this statistics-driven tactical analysis, there is only one real winner, Kane. With nine individual stats won to the measly three of Higuain.
This very much suggests that the fit-again Three Lions and Spurs main man will have the better 90 minutes tonight than the man likely to be lining up against him in the same position. But in football, you simply never know, and it may just turn out that Higuain fires his new team to a much-needed victory.
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