Crystal Palace host West Ham United in Saturday’s late kick-off.
This weekend sees the return of the Premier League following the second international break of the campaign.
The late kick-off on Saturday will prove to be an interesting one as Crystal Palace host West Ham United at Selhurst Park.
Not only does it see Eagles manager Alan Pardew taking on his old team, it also sees defender James Tomkins face the Hammers for the first time since leaving this summer.
Aside from that subplot, however, one intriguing battle will be on the wings as two England hopefuls, Michail Antonio and Andros Townsend, go head-to-head.
Both were in the most recent England squad, with the former Tottenham winger picked ahead of West Ham’s star man.
So how do the two players compare so far this season? We decided to take a look at the stats.
As it turns out it is Palace’s star who has been better as he came out on top in six of the eight areas we looked at.
So far this season he has posted more accurate passes, more successful final third passes and more key passes than Antonio.
Townsend also enjoys a better overall passing accuracy with his score of 79% just beating Antonio’s tally of 75%.
He has also won more dribbles, 23 compared to 17 and posted more accurate crosses, 14 compared to seven.
Interestingly, though, Antonio has enjoyed the better overall crossing accuracy with a tally of 29% compared to Townsend’s 25%.
The West Ham man also comes out on top in terms of shots on target, having posted three more than Crystal Palace’s star this season.
Nonetheless, it is a win for Townsend and Palace will be hoping it proves to be the same in this weekend’s game.
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