Fast Start – Eden Hazard Chelsea Stats so far

Eden Hazard has arrived and how?! Three assists in his first two Premier League games for Chelsea (Opta don’t include fouls won for Penalties as assists) and an excellent chance creativity frequency (every 22 mins) bodes well for Chelsea for the rest of the season. Hazard’s assists so far account for half of Chelsea’s goals and if, like they do in Fantasy League games, you included the two penalties it would be a whopping five (however as we mentioned before it’s officially three assists).

The opposition hasn’t been great so far and he look quiet against Manchester City in the Community Shield so there is much yet still to prove from Hazard but the potential to succeed is definitely there.

Below we’ve detailed some of this stats and whilst he’s created the same amount of chances as Santi Cazorla created in one game, three of Hazard’s have resulted in assists and two of his chances have been clear-cut chances which means they’ve put through a team mate each time (Ivanovic on both occasions).

KEY: TCC – Total Chances Created | TGA – Total Goal Assists |
MCC – Minutes per Chance Created

The table above, taken from our Top Stats section in our Stats Centre (subscribe to the EPLIndex Stats Centre for access today) shows how quickly Hazard has started and the number of assists he has already. He creates a chance every 22 minutes (MCC) which is very impressive over two games. Juan Mata created a chance every 24 minutes last season so this is what he will be compared to. However did Mata start as quickly as Hazard? Let’s take a look at how long it took Mata to get to three assists:

Juan Mata’s start in 11/12

As you can see Mata was equally as impressive in creating chances last term however it took him quite a while longer to get to three assists (third coming against Everton on 15th October 2011). Also Mata created six chances at Manchester United in just his third appearance which was very impressive so early on his Premier League career against the then Champions of England. Hazard is yet to play in a high profile Premier League game so we will have to keep an eye on how he performs in those games and if he is comparable to Juan Mata in that sense.

Last year’s top creator was David Silva – so how does Eden Hazard compare to David Silva’s first few games in English football?

David Silva’s Start in 10/11

As shown above it took David Silva longer to settle with a low amount of chances created in his first few games. The Premier League is a tough one – it’s not very easy to get going and find a rhythm but Eden Hazard already seems to be settled in this star-studded Chelsea side.

Whilst we know it can be difficult to make a direct comparison without all things being equal (minutes played and level of opposition) and with such a small amount of data available for Hazard just yet we just wanted to bring to the fore that Eden Hazard has made an immediate impact and started faster than last years top two creators started their careers at their respective football clubs. It bodes well for Chelsea and their season.

All of the stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) Check out our new Top Stats feature on the Stats Centre which allows you to compare all players in the league & read about new additions to the stats centre.