Here are eight things you should know about Arsenal and QPR prior to kick-off today:
1. Arsenal suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Norwich in their last Premier League encounter.
2. Despite that result, Santi Carzola has extended his lead in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index’s category for most passes completed in his opponent’s half with 384, while Mikel Arteta has now also overtaken Yaya Toure to go into second place with 357 passes completed in his opponent’s half. Carzola is now averaging less than two minutes per pass completed in his opponent’s half.
3. Arteta made 65 of his 357 passes in the game against Norwich, the fourth best passing performance in a single game this season. Meanwhile, Andre Santos made an impressive 54 passes in his opponent’s half, second only to Arteta in last weekend’s games. Carzola’s 50 meant that the top three passing performances last weekend were all Arsenal players, yet they still could not break down the stubborn Norwich defence.
4. Olivier Giroud’s struggles in front of goal have been closely monitored by Arsenal fans. The French striker has had 18 attempts at goal, but just 44% have been on target and just one has resulted in a goal.
5. QPR produced a performance which defied their position at the bottom of the Premier League to secure a 1-1 draw with Everton in their last game.
6. Junior Hoillett scored for QPR, while Bobby Zamora and Adel Taarabt also impressed. In addition, Ryan Nelson’s performance has seen him jump to joint top in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for blocks made with 12 overall.
7. Esteban Granero continues to impress for QPR. He completed 41 passes in the Everton, the third best passing performance by a QPR player this season. Granero himself holds the top slot for that with 49 against West Brom.
8. Julio Cesar was unlucky to concede an own goal against Everton. Cesar made five saves in that game to make it his second busiest game of the season.
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