La Liga Stat Attack: Real Madrid Back On Top For The First Time Since September

Top 5 Teams With Most Shots (On Target)

Deportivo La Coruna - 22 (11)

Almeria - 20 (10)

Real Madrid - 20 (9)

Malaga - 15 (4)

Atletico Madrid - 14 (5)

This week saw a rare buck in trend as two of the more defensive-minded, goal-shy teams lead the shots count. Even Xerez, who would normally conjure up no more than a handful of goal attempts, had ten shots with three on target against Sporting Gijon. It’s not a jaw-dropping tally, but it is impressive considering Barcelona had only 13 shots and three on target themselves against Athletic Bilbao.

Top 5 Players With Most Shots (On Target)

Lassad Nouioui (Deportivo La Coruna) - 7 (3)

Fernando Soriano (Almeria) - 6 (4)

Kalu Uche (Almeria) - 5 (2)

Sidi Yaya Keita (Xerez) - 5 (2)

Jurado (Atletico Madrid) - 5 (2)

Espanyol’s Ivan Alonso was another player who amassed five shots but none were on target. Valencia hitman, David Villa also had five attempts, one of which was on target which he managed to convert into a goal. Villarreal’s Nilmar had the best ratio with four shots, three on the mark and two goals.

Most Saves

Dudu Aouate (Mallorca) - 9

Sergio Asenjo (Atletico Madrid) - 9

Tono (Racing Santander) - 8

Diego Lopez (Villarreal) - 4

Daniel Aranzubia (Deportivo La Coruna) - 4

Not surprisingly, the two goalkeepers whose team gave away the most shots had to make the most saves. The two shot-stoppers who are currently leading the Zamora Trophy race, Iker Casillas and Victor Valdes, didn’t have a single save to make, although the Barca custodian did concede a goal against Athletic Bilbao in what was his opponents' only shot on target.

Tenerife 1-2 Sevilla

- This was Tenerife’s seventh defeat of the season, the joint worst record in the league along with Malaga.
- El Tete have won just once in their last seven outings.
- Sevilla’s three previous away victories were won without conceding a goal (2-0 at Xerez, 4-0 at Athletic and 2-0 at Osasuna).
- Los Nervionenses have eight wins so far after 11 games and on all eight occasions, they scored the opening goal.

Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 Atletico Madrid

- This was Depor’s seventh win of the season. Amazingly enough, this is the first time this term that they have conceded a goal in a match that they won.
- The Galicians collected three bookings in this game but they still remain the side with the fewest yellow cards (15).
- Atletico are now on a three-game losing run. The last time they had a similar streak was between September 28 and October 18 of 2008. Their previous worst sequence was four defeats on the trot back in early 1999.
- With just seven points from their first 11 games, this is Atleti’s worst start since 1994/95 when they also had the same tally of points at this stage.

Real Madrid 1-0 Racing Santander

- The victory, coupled with Barcelona’s draw at Bilbao, sent Los Blancos top of the league for the first time since 26 September. They also succeeded in extending their perfect home record to six wins from six.
- Iker Casillas have now kept seven clean sheets, more than any other goalkeeper after 11 rounds. Meanwhile, Gonzalo Higuain, who netted the only goal of the game, joins Cristiano Ronaldo on five goals as the team’s leading scorer.
- Other than Sergio Canales’ shot which produced the goal that was ruled out for offside, Racing did not manage a single shot on target.
- The Cantabrians have now lost their last three league games on the trot without scoring a goal.

Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Barcelona

- This was Athletic’s first draw at home this campaign.
- The Basque outfit have not beaten the Catalans since May 2006. In fact, they have only won against them three times in the last 24 league meetings.
- Xavi, who set up Dani Alves’ goal, is now the player with the most assists (5).
- Barcelona have not won in their last three consecutive away games in the league having drawn all three. They do remain the only unbeaten side.
- The Blaugrana have scored the first goal of a match in every game where they’ve managed to find the back of the net.

Xerez 0-0 Sporting Gijon

- Xerez have gone back to their goal drought having failed to score in each of their last four league games.
- Cuco Ziganda’s men have only managed three goals so far, none of which are from open play.
- Sporting, despite being unbeaten in their last six outings, have an equally poor scoring record having netted just two goals in their last four games.

Espanyol 0-2 Getafe

- The Blanc-i-Blau have won only once in their last seven games and they have managed only one goal in their last 360 minutes of league football.
- This was Espnayol’s second only defeat at home this term, although they have managed just two wins in their own backyard.
- As for Getafe, this was their first away victory since the 4-1 win at Racing Santander on opening day.
- El Geta were one of the draw specialists last season with 12 stalemates (second highest) but they are the only team so far this term yet to draw a match.

Villarreal 3-1 Real Valladolid

- El Submarino have now won three of their last four league games.
- Nilmar netted twice in this game. It’s his first double in La Liga and he now joins Giuseppe Rossi and Robert Pires as his side’s leading scorer with three goals.
- Despite being the more illustrious side, Villarreal have only beaten Valladolid four times in their past 11 encounters including this match, compared to five wins for the Pucelas.
- Valladolid, however, have only managed two wins from their last 22 La Liga games stretching back to last season.

Mallorca 3-1 Almeria

- Mallorca maintained their perfect winning streak at home this season thanks to two late winning goals.
- The Islanders do not only share a 100 percent record at home with Real Madrid and Barcelona, but all three also have identical goal differential (+14) on home soil.
- Almeria are only the second team this season, after Getafe, to score at the ONO Estadi.  

Malaga 1-1 Real Zaragoza

- This ill-tempered clash saw 44 fouls committed in total (22 for each side), the highest in this round of games. Both teams also had one red card each.
- Malaga are still rooted to the foot of the table with just six points. They have not won in their last ten league games.
- Zaragoza aren’t fairing any better, winning just twice in the last ten rounds. They are, however, the only team to score in every single round.

Osasuna 1-3 Valencia

- This was Osasuna’s second home defeat of the season. It’s also the first time since September 2003 they’ve lost to Valencia at the Reyno de Navarra. 
- In contrast, this was the Mestalla men’s fifth away win in six games this term, the best record in the league at present.
- David Villa, who netted the opening goal, has now scored nine goals for Los Che in La Liga, comfortably leading the Pichichi race ahead of Barcelona duo, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both on seven.
- David Albelda scored Valencia’s second goal. It was his first goal for the club since December 2005. 

Do you have an interesting piece of statistic or trivia of your own from this round of games? Let us know in the comments box below and share it with the other Goal.com readers…

KS Leong, Goal.com