Goal machine Haaland among Premier League's best stat performers so far

The halfway mark in the Premier League season has come and gone, but there is still plenty of time for teams to make a difference in the coming months. However, this does offer the chance to reflect on those players who have performed the best and worst in a number of different areas. 

Here we have looked at the success rates in six different categories to see who came out on top for each. 

Conversion Rate (15+ shots) 

This first entry may be one many would have expected given his brilliant start to life in the Premier League, with Erling Haaland having the best conversion rate (33.8%) so far. While many have looked at the vast number of goals he has scored (25), the more impressive stat has to be that he has done so from only 74 shots, the second highest total in the league, which has put him in pole position for the Golden Boot. 

It has been a decent season so far for Brighton and after the departure of Graham Potter, they have continued to grow under the guidance of Roberto De Zerbi. Sitting in sixth place, they have scored the fourth most goals (37) and yet the player with the lowest conversion rate is Danny Welbeck. Welbeck has returned a conversion rate of just 3.4% having only scored once from 29 shots, and though not always the most prolific striker, it would have been expected that he would have scored more.  

Dribble success rate (30+ dribbles attempted) 

Arsenal have played some title winning football this season. Martin Odegaard has been key to this with his driving runs from midfield and chance creation. He in fact ranks highest in the league for dribble success rate (63.6%) completing 21 of the 33 in which he attempted. 

Leicester endured a very questionable start to the season and though are out of the relegation zone for now, are only one point clear of the bottom three, despite sitting 14th. Harvey Barnes hasn’t had the worst season, still scoring seven goals as the Foxes joint-top goalscorer, but in terms of his dribbling, it hasn’t been great. From the 43 dribbles he has attempted, only 11 have been successful, leaving him with a dribble success rate of 25.6%. 

Save success rate (12+ appearances) 

Newcastle come to the halfway point in the season having only conceded 11 goals, giving them the best defensive record in the league and while their backline have been a solid unit, plaudits also have to go to their shot stopper Nick Pope. Now, while the Magpies don’t face a lot of shots on average per game (10.6), Pope has still been there when called upon to make crucial saves, with his nine against Crystal Palace earlier in the season, a record for a Premier League game this season. In all his save success rate is currently the best at 78.5%.

Manchester City have faced the fewest shots on average per game so far (7.4), as would generally be expected from their dominant play, underlined by the highest average possession stats (65.4%). They have however conceded 20 goals at an average of one per game, a rise on their 0.68 conceded per game last season. Now although a number of factors come into play as to why this is, one thing that does highlight this dip in form by Ederson, who hasn’t been near his best this season. A 57.7% save success rate is the lowest so far in the league. 

Tackle success rate (30+ tackles) 

Fulham have had a really positive return to the Premier League and find themselves in seventh place with Marco Silva building a well-structured team. Though defensively their record isn’t the best in the league, the top tackler is one of their own. Kenny Tete has a 95.8% tackle success rate, completing 46 of his 48 attempted tackles. 

For a side fighting for Premier League survival, West Ham’s 15.5 tackles per game is the fifth lowest in the league. As such, it's no surprise that the player with the lowest tackle success rate in the league is one of their own in the form of Pablo Fornals (46.9%). 

Aerial success rate (30+ aerial duels contested) 

Despite the fact they don’t tackle a lot, West Ham generally don't concede a lot either, having only let in 25 goals, the fifth fewest in the division, and much of this comes down to the defensive work of Kurt Zouma. The centre-back has the best aerial success rate (86.4%) in the league, winning 38 of the 44 he has contested so far this season. 

Nottingham Forest for a long time looked as if they were destined to go straight back down to the Championship and though they are not safe yet, they have picked up some form in recent weeks. Taiwo Awoniyi as their joint top goalscorer with four goals, and has played his part for Forest following his summer arrival. However, when it comes to aerial success rate, he ranks the lowest in the Premier League this season (18.9%), winning only seven of the 37 he has contested. 

Shot accuracy rate (15+ shots) 

Everton have only averaged 3.5 shots on target per game this season, which is the fourth lowest return in the league, yet the player who has managed the best shot accuracy is winger Anthony Gordon (61.5%). 16 of his 26 shots have hit the target, which has seen him score three goals.

Thomas Partey’s main characteristics involve winning possession and making tackles to start up counterattacks for the Gunners, goalscoring isn’t his main attribute. He has scored twice this season, both of which have come from outside the box, which may go some way in explaining why he has the lowest shot accuracy (10%) of any player in the league so far this season. He is often taking on shots that are more hit-and-hope, seeing only two of his 20 shots hit the target, though both of these did hit the back of the net.