Welcome to The DeBrief, a Sky Sports column in which Adam Bate uses a mix of data and opinion to think about some of the most important stories from the latest Premier League matches. This week:
↗️ More than a hot streak for Murphy🔶 Andre van Newcastle is central to the astonishing strike of the Wolves Revival🔥 Baleba only part of the package
Murphy is now a star at Newcastle
Since the beginning of December there are only two players in the Premier League who are in the top 10 for both goals and assists. For many, it will not come as a surprise that Mohamed Salah from Liverpool is one of them. The other is Newcastle's Jacob Murphy.
With eight goals and nine assists in the competition since then, Murphy has been a revelation on the right wing. Since he was recalled at the beginning of December for the 3-3 draw against Salah's Liverpool, the 30-year-old has started every Premier League match.
Murphy did not technically add to that goal and assisted Talies in the 3-0 win over Ipswich, but it was his smart run that made the mistake from which Newcastle won their opening sentence. He also played the pass for the pass for the second goal.
That happens a lot. There is a statistics that calculates the total expected goals of each property involving an individual player. It has Murphy, this not -covered Englishman, in third place in this period, only Salah and Luis Diaz behind.
What about some figures? There have been 87 crosses from Open Play, second to Fulham's Antonee Robinson. Murphy is in the top 10 for high speed runs and for covered distance during sprinting. He is signed above and overlapping runs.
“Completely credit to Jacob,” Jason Tindall recently said. “He has been in the football club for a long time and I am sure that if he was someone we would have signed at the beginning of the season or January, more compliments would receive anywhere than he did.”
He has a point. The shape of Murphy has become more than a hot streak, more than a temporary designation for a team with great ambitions. While Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon compete for a place on the left, he has just become one of the best players in Newcastle.
Andre brings balance to wolves
It is now hard to believe that in November, with wolves still without winning in the Premier League under Gary O'Neil, Andre looked from the couch as an unused replacement against Crystal Palace when Mario Lemina came up for Tommy Doyle in Molinex.
At the time, the international midfielder of Brazil was signed late in the transfer window of Fluminense, was seen as a player of promise, but not what the team needed. Almost six months later, Andre received another standing ovation.
He not only started with each of the six consecutive victories of Wolves under Vitor Pereira, a Premier League record for the club, but he played in it. Andre was far too good for Leicester in Saturday's 3-0 victory, in fighting possession, too stylish in.
There were seven tackles, not only more than anyone else on the field, but more than anyone in the Premier League weekend. He also completed 48 of his 53 passes. He is an elite ball winner, but he is also someone who is able to determine the pace for his team.
Matheus Cunha was the hero against Leicester with a goal and two assists, but then speaking with Pereira in the press conference, it was an opportunity to ask him what he though of his reducing powerhouse. “In our team, Andre is the balance,” he replied.
“He is the player who has to connect the defenders with attack. He must be intelligent not to lose his position, because if he loses his position, we lose the balance. He is a tactical player, technical player and intelligent. In my opinion he is a top player.”
Cunha may quickly get his big step, but choosing which of the Brazilians of Wolves will have the best career is not that easy. There is also Joao Gomes, while Andre is even younger at the age of 23 and most middle fields would improve. Not bad considering his status in November.
And finally … Baleba's special moment
Fabian Hurzeler then spoke about the merits to hold on to the plan when Brighton late in the match from behind to win 3-2 against West Ham. Moving Yankuba Minth to the left wing certainly paid off, but Hurzeler could not claim much credit for the winner.
It was a “special moment” of a special player in Carlos Baleba, he explained. “We worked on tactics that need a goal in the last minute. That was not a tactic,” Lewis Dunk told Sky Sports. “But he put it in the upper corner so that the Gaffer can say nothing.”
According to the expected goals models, the Balba strike was given a one-in-fifty attempt where it was struck, but the way of curling from a wide wide from the goal to just within the right-hand post of Alphonse Areola looked more like a thousand. A beauty.
It was appropriate that it was hit by Baleba. At the age of 21 he has already become a colossus in the midfield of Brighton. He won nine times, more than anyone on the field. His four tackles won were four times more than the West Ham team together.
Remember that no teammate has completed fits anymore and builds a photo of an all -round midfielder who has been crucial for Brighton, a beacon of consistency in a different injuries season for the club. There will be more special moments for Baleba.