Stat Attack – AFC Bournemouth v Crystal Palace

There were 3 changes to the team who beat Man Utd, one reportedly due to injury (Aarons for Smith) and two presumably with an eye on minutes over a busy period with Unal for Evanilson and Cook for Adams. As anticipated from recent games, C Palace sat back and looked to hit on the break. As such, our average position resembled a 2-4-1-3, with fullbacks Kerkez (3) and Aarons (37) pushed up as far as Christie (10) and Cook (4) although the ‘1’ was Unal (26) our centre forward, which shows how often Ouattara (11) and Seemnyo (24) were more advanced/ Whilst these data may be confounded by AFCB attacking more after Unal had been substituted, the position of Evanilson (9) was similar. Unal was subbed along with Aarons in the 62nd minute, with Evanilson and Adams (12) coming on. Cook dropped into right back with Adams going central midfield. In the 72nd minute Billing (29) replaced Kluivert (19) in a straight swap and in the 85th minute, Brooks (7) replaced Ouattara (11) although he struggled to be involved. The average position indicates we were under pressure in the last minutes.

Huijsen had the most touches with 93. This is a season high. Semenyo had the most touches in the opposition half (57) and most in the final third with 40. Kerkez had 37 in the final third which is good for a full back. This was AFCB’s most number of touches in a game and in the opposition half.

Huijsen attempted the most passes with 76, Christie and Kerkez attempted the most in the opposition’s half (27) with Kerkez attempting the most in the final third with 16. We averaged 82% pass completion with Cook, Huijsen and Kepa of the starting 11, at over 85%. Huijsen’s attempted passes and successful passes were the season’s highest.

AFCB players tried to take on a man 16 times being successful 4 times (from Christie, Kluivert and Semenyo(2)).

AFCB players were tackled 28 times with Semenyo being tackled 7 times and Kerkez 6 times.

AFCB attempted 27 crosses, being successful with 5 (twice from Christie). Ouattara was not successful in any of his 8 crosses.

AFCB had 34 touches in the opposition’s penalty area with Semenyo having 8. C Palace had 16 touches in our penalty area.

AFCB created 15 chances (0 big). C Palace created 9 chances, 0 big. Cook created 4 chances.

We had 18 attempts (0 big) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target 3 times. C Palace had 10 attempts, none big and hit the target 4 times. Ouattara and Semenyo had 5 attempts each.

AFCB won 15 of 34 aerials duals. The centre-backs won 6 from 7, and Unal 6 from 11.

AFCB won 22 of 32 tackles. Huijsen won 6 from 6 and Christie 4 from 6.

Huijsen made the most defensive actions with 20. Christie made most interceptions (2) and recoveries (11). Huijsen made most clearances (9) and 4 players made blocks.

The Opta expected goals had Unal as most likely to score (0.42) mainly due to the flick, followed by Ouattara (0.39) and Semenyo (0.37). For expected assists Zabarnyi was top (presumably due to promising through balls to Evanilson) at 0.16.

The foul count was AFCB 31, C Palace 11. Huijsen, Kerkez and Kluivert made 2 fouls each whilst Christie and Unal were both fouled twice.

According to Opta, AFCB made 1 error leading to a chance which was from Christie, which may have been when he turned out with the ball in centre midfield and was tackled.