David Silva vs Eden Hazard | Tricky Playmaker Stats Comparison

When the season kicked off back in August, two teams, Manchester City and Chelsea, were clear favourites for the title.  Seven games into the season and those are the two teams residing in first and second place with Chelsea five points above second place Manchester City.  The London club have been the better team thus far and their early five point lead on the defending champions shows that. In this article we will focus on David Silva and Eden Hazard’s performances so far this season.

Both of these two sides are loaded with talent that’s how they are able to do so well in the league while competing in Europe and domestic cups as well. Some will focus on the new players the teams have brought in, like Cesc Fabregas, Eliquim Mangala, and Diego Costa, but both teams already had plenty of match winners.  Two that have now been around for a few years and both continue to put in.

Hazard Vs Silva Creativity

While both players tend to start games out wide, the stats depict their different playing styles.  Hazard is more of a traditional winger than Silva.  Hazard is more of a dribbler and more direct in his style of play.  This leads to more dribbles completed, Hazard has 36 completed dribbles compared to Silva’s 10, but a lower percentage of dribbles completed.  Silva is more of an attacking midfielder that lines up wide but drifts all throughout the pitch.  Silva is more focused on dictating the game with his passing and looking for the incisive pass through the lines as opposed to taking players on.  That explains why he has compelted significantly more passes than Hazard.  While they employ different styles, they are both very skillful creative players.  So far this season, Silva has had slightly better creative numbers creating a chance every 31 minutes compared to one every 39.5 minutes for Hazard.

Hazard Vs Silva Goalscoring

The differences in the two superstars playing styles also changes their goal output.  Hazard’s direct style gets him more goals than Silva.  Hazard is usually good for 10-15 goals a season, while Silva has never scored double digit goals in the Premier League.  Early on in the season, neither player has scored a huge amount of goals yet.  Hazard has bagged himself two, but one was from the penalty spot, with Silva having one.  Both players are more focused on their creative output with the two only taking nine shots each in seven games.  Both have been pretty accurate with their few shots this season, both have hit the target with more than 50% of their shots on goal, but so few shots can only lead to so many goals.  Neither will be to concerned about their goalscoring numbers because they have so much more to their game, but these superstars picking up their respective goal tallies could help decide which team wins the title.

When new players perform well they usually get the attention of the fans and the media.  They are new which automatically makes them more exciting to fans.  When looking at the key performers though, the players that have been with a team for a few years can often make the biggest difference when times get tough in the Premier League.  In the title run in, some players that are new to the league can fall off a bit, as we saw with these two when they first came to the Premier League.  When it gets to the run in you need your more experienced players to step up for you and that’s exactly what David Silva and Eden Hazard can do for Manchester City and Chelsea respectively.