With Chelsea remaining as one of the few unbeaten teams from the Premier League this season, it is no wonder that pundits are picking out the players that are performing.
Diego Costa and Eden Hazard have been the two players who have been praised a lot for the start to the season. But there was one player that was the star last time around and hasn’t really done a lot to trouble the scoring sheets.
Willian was Chelsea’s best player last season, there can be no doubts about that but has the Brazilian been on a similar level as last season? We take the help of Squawka.com and compare last season with how this season has progressed for the 28-year-old.
Willian set to have a better season?
The Brazilian might not have played all four games but he has had a positive impact for the London club. Willian, however, has seen a reduction in the number of forward passes per 90 minutes. With only 20.65 forward passes this season, his number is down by almost six from last season.
Not that it has affected his accuracy; the Brazilian surprisingly has an accuracy percentage of 92%, which is higher than last season’s pass completion of 83%. The increased accuracy and Conte’s tactics have seen Willian do more with the ball at his feet.
The 28-year-old averages 4.7 key passes per game this season compared to just 2.46 key passes last season. While it is still too early to say how many goals he will score this season, the Brazilian already have a goal to his name in just three games and should score more than the five he bagged last season.
The other reason why Willian could end up scoring a lot more goals this season is his shot accuracy. The Brazilian seems to be getting more on target and has an accuracy of 67% compared to just 49% from last season.
Willian, though, seems to be struggling to beat his opposition. The 28-year-old had a take on success rate of 67% last season but this time around it has fallen to 43%. This would be one aspect of his game that the Brazilian would be working on really hard as this was one of his strongest suites.
Chelsea have been excellent under Antonio Conte and it is no surprise that they are considered as one of the favourites for the Premier League title. With Willian also performing at a higher rate than last season, the Brazilian will surely end this season with a higher number of goals and assists.