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West Ham’s Javier Hernandez vs Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata : A Statistical Comparison

Javier Hernandez

Javier Hernandez vs Alvaro Morata – A Statistical Comparison

Antonio Conte decided to ditch his last season’s top goal scorer, as he allowed Diego Costa to quit the club this summer. But he has not had an easy search for a replacement, missing out on top target Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United. The Italian did find a brilliant option in Alvaro Morata for next season but most teams around in the league, have also found decent strikers to lead their sides next season.

Like Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette, Chelsea’s Morata will have to compete against fellow London side West Ham, who have recruited Javier Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen for a paltry fee of £16m. Morata is a more established star but the Mexican has also been in superb touch recently. So how does the duo compare based on their stats from the last couple of years?

The former Manchester United man established himself as the first choice for the Bundesliga outfit, picking up 11 goals last season and 17 goals in the season before that. Morata, who was with Juventus in the 15-16 season, scored 7 goals in Italy but produced a much better performance after he moved back to Spain, picking up 15 goals last season with Real Madrid.

Both players have similar playing styles and are established internationals, who are five years apart in their respective careers. But there is very little separating them in numbers.

Alvaro Morata

Averaging 1.2 and 1.3 shots on target a game in the last two seasons, the West Ham newbie is not as good as Morata in front of goal. The Spaniard averaged 1.3 shots on target in Serie A but that amounted to 2.0 per game last season with the Spanish champions.

Hernandez is also not as good a dribbler as Morata is and averages just 0.6 and 0.9 successful dribble# per game in the last couple of campaigns. Morata has been slightly more effective, averaging 1.5 and 1.9 in the last two seasons in two different leagues.

Neither of them is strong in the air and have won a similar number of air balls, losing more than what they win. But both players are creative forces in the final third. The Chelsea man averages 1.1 and 1.7 key passes per game in the last two seasons and Hernandez is not too far away, averaging 1.2 and 1.1 in the last two seasons.

Considering their age and their experience, expect a fierce battle from them to get to the top of the goal scoring charts next season. But I believe that Morata will perform better than Chicharito as he is more complete than Hernandez. However, the experience of playing in the English league might play into the hands of Chicharito. But I expect Morata to perform better than the Mexican.