A recent study by CIES Football Observatory shows West Ham’s Michail Antonio is the Premier League’s most fouled player so far.
The Switzerland-based research group used data from InStat to calculate which players fouled and were fouled the most, using players with at least 270 minutes after four weeks of this season.
Bustling Hammers striker Antonio, who has scored twice this season, tops the list after receiving 15 fouls in 369 minutes – on average an offence every 24 minutes and 36 seconds.
Richarlison, Grady Diangana, Sadio Mane and Tariq Lamptey respectively round out the rest of the top five, while Brighton midfielder Steven Alzate has committed the most fouls so far.
School of hard knocks for Michail Antonio and attacking players
Attacking players largely dominate the Premier League list, with flying Brighton full-back Tariq Lamptey the only defender in the top 12.
West Bromwich Albion’s Diangana and tricky Brazilian Matheus Pereira (eighth) feature at the top, as do Aston Villa pair Jack Grealish (sixth) and John McGinn (ninth), while Everton’s James Rodriguez (seventh) and Crystal Palace’s perennially fouled Wilfried Zaha (tenth) round out the top ten.
Tom Cairney, Nampalys Mendy, Stuart Dallas, Andros Townsend, Lucas Moura, Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans, Jordan Ayew, Aleksandar Mitrovic and James Justin complete the top 20.
Meanwhile, Tomas Soucek, Moura, Phil Bardsley and Isaac Hayden come in the top five most frequent fouls committed in the Premier League, after Alzate.
Neymar the most fouled player across Europe
Unsurprisingly, Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian superstar Neymar comes top of the list across the big five leagues in Europe.
Manchester City loanee Yangel Herrera comes in third, with ex-Aston Villa forward Jerell Sellars of Ostersunds the most fouled so far across all 33 leagues surveyed with 22 fouls received in just 290 minutes.
Lorient captain Fabian Lemoine has committed the most fouls in the big five European leagues, but Belarusian forward Kirill Vergeichik of FK Vitebsk tops all 33 leagues with a foul every 15 minutes and 27 seconds.
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