Stats War – Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic vs Chelsea’s Diego Costa
The Premier League is home to some of the best players in Europe and it is always interesting to see match-ups between stars who play for the biggest clubs in the league. This season, a number of strikers have been in superb form for their sides and two players who are right up there with the best so far this season is Chelsea star Diego Costa and Manchester United MVP Zlatan Ibrahimovic. For starters, both players are the top goalscorers for their respective sides in all competitions this season but who has been more influential? Here is a statistical comparison between the two hit men:
The Spanish star at Stamford Bridge, has been prolific this season and has 15 goals and 5 assists to his name, and has played an important role in getting Chelsea to the top of the Premier League table. Zlatan, on the other hand, has the same number of goals to his name but he has picked up just 4 assists this season. Costa has been influential all over the pitch and his pass completion rate of 75% is commendable for a striker. Zlatan is in close quarters, standing at 74%.
However, the Swede is way beyond Costa in the number of chances created this season. The Manchester United star has created 43 chances this season compared to Costa’s lowly 29 for Chelsea. The Manchester United man also has provided 39 key passes throughout the season compared to the 24 that Costa has managed this season. Both players play in different systems but have been as influential as each other in the final third.
Playing as strikers, both players are bound to take shots that often end up in the crowd. Diego Costa has better accuracy than Zlatan. Costa’s shot accuracy is 60% compared to 55% of the Manchester United man’s this season. Costa is known for the physical approach to his game but he is not better than Zlatan in winning duels. The Swede wins 49% of his aerial duels while Costa wins just 25% in the air, making Zlatan a more productive target man with a 24% margin.
However, Costa wins more duels on the whole and has a success of 41% in his total duels while Zlatan’s score falls down to 37%. As already mentioned, Costa is inactive in any kind of European competitions and has had more time than Zlatan to settle into every game. He has played a whole of 130 minutes less than the Manchester United man this season and has been more influential on the whole.
Chelsea are a team in form and Costa has been the leader that has got them to the top of the table. Manchester United would surely be reeling out of the top-6 if it was not for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Hence, deciding who has been better isn’t easy at all. Maybe, we should just be happy that the duo is competing with each other at the highest level and enjoy every bit of watching these gifted players grace the Premier League.