Juan Mata signed for Manchester United on the 24th of January and played in the very next game, on the 28th. Since signing from Chelsea, he has been the Premier League’s highest scoring midfielder from open play.
Other top scoring midfielders, over the past 20 months, have had their tallies boosted by penalty goals. Players like Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Manchester City’s Yaya Touré are both their team’s primary penalty taker, so have an easy access to goals.
Juan Mata has only taken one, and scored one Premier League penalty since his move to Old Trafford, but has scored an incredible 16 goals away from spot kicks.
Of the three midfield goal scorers, Eden Hazard sits in 3rd place with only 13 of his 19 Premier League goals coming from open play. The Belgian is yet to score this season.
Yaya Touré is in second, just edging Hazard by 1 goal. The Ivorian totals 20 Premier League goals, with 6 of them being from the spot.
This puts Juan Mata at the top of the midfielder, in field, scoring list. He may have 3 goals less than Yaya, totalling 17, and only one of them has been a penalty goal. This gives United’s midfielder a 2 goal advantage on City’s player.
Manchester United play Sunderland this weekend, and there’s a good chance that Juan Mata will add to his goal tally.
