Norwich City plays host to Southampton at Carrow Road on Friday in their Matchday 30 outstanding fixture in the Premier League.
The Canaries from Norwich sit last in the Premier League table with just 21 points from 29 games this season in the Premier League. They have won just five games, the least in the Premier League this season so far. In order to escape relegation, Norwich will need a miracle to turn around their fate. For that to be possible, Daniel Farke will put his faith in the Finnish striker, Teemu Pukki. Despite awful results, the underrated forward has managed to score an impressive 11 times and chip in 3 assists in 28 games.
The 30-year-old striker joined the Canaries in 2018 from Brondby and helped his side in their promotion to the Premier League. He had exciting numbers in the Championship last season. He scored 29 goals in the Championship last season and bagged nine assists. He amazed everyone with his jaw-dropping performances and was a player to look out for in the Premier League ahead of the start. He started the season brilliantly and so did Norwich. However, the Canaries slipped into the relegation zone as they lost many games consecutively.
So, as the Canaries restart their campaign in order to survive relegation, Farke will be looking forward to him to step up and continue his goalscoring form to keep the Saints defence guessing.
On the other side is another underrated striker Danny Ings. The English striker has been an important player in Ralph Hasenhüttl’s preferred eleven this season. The 27-year-old has scored 15 goals while also assisting one of his teammates’ in 29 appearances this season. He has not only been scoring goals all by himself but has also played an important role in supporting teammate Shane Long, who will not be available for the upcoming fixture due to a knock.
The Saints are 14th in the league table with 34 points from 29 games. They are just five points behind 10th placed Burnley and will be looking forward to a top-ten finish this season. For that to be possible, Ralph Hasenhüttl will put his faith in Danny Ings. Ings will play an important part in the Saints’ top-ten hopes. Southampton does have an upper hand against Norwich but faces tough opposition like Arsenal, Manchester City, Everton and Manchester United later on in the competition.
In fact, Ings and Pukki are the top two players when it comes to players who have scored the highest proportion of their team’s goals this season.
Let’s compare his performances with Teemu Pukki. A comparison between both in regards to the five metrics of goals, assists, dribbling, key passes, duels won, possession lost, this season so far. This is based on their 2019-20 Premier League performance.
Goals: In terms of goalscoring ability, Ings has scored 15 goals as compared to Pukki’s 11 goals
Assists: In terms of assists, Teemu Pukki has three assists as compared to Ings’ one assist.
Key Passes: In terms of key passes, Pukki (1) has more key passes per game than Ings’ (0.7).
Duels Won: Ings wins 3.2 duels per game (50%) as compared to Pukki’s 1.8 (30%).
Possession Lost: In terms of lost balls, Ings loses a lot more than Pukki. Ings loses possession 11 times per game as compared to Pukki’s 6.9.
