How Wilfried Zaha compares to Hakim Ziyech

FT Desk

Updated: 29 Aug 2022 12:31 BST
3 min read

Chelsea are reportedly interested in a move for Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha, as the Ivorian has just one year left on his contract at Selhurst Park.

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The Blues could also lose Hakim Ziyech in the coming days as the Moroccan is receiving interest from Ajax, who see him as a replacement for Antony.

Chelsea have been keen to improve in attack having lost Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku over the course of the season, and have targeted Zaha for the final days of the window.

With that, how do Zaha and Ziyech compare over the last year and would Chelsea be making a sensible choice in letting the former Ajax man go to bring in the Crystal Palace forward?

Comparing Zaha to Ziyech

Starting with the best metric, in terms of goals, Ziyech scored eight last season and assisted six, while Zaha scored 15 and assisted four, showing that the latter had more attacking output over the last season.

Then on to key passes per match, Zaha last season contributed 0.49, compared to Ziyech’s 0.91, indicating that the Chelsea man shows far more creativity.

Ziyech also tends to create more aerially, averaging 2.8 crosses per match, compared to Zaha’s 1.38, although factors will have to be taken into consideration as Zaha played more minutes.

Only Harry Kane and Son (15) have scored more Premier League goals in 2022 than Wilfried Zaha (12). ⚽️

Put some respect on his name! 🙌#CRYAVL #CPFC pic.twitter.com/IZObzPaO1J
— Team Called Palace (@TCPalacePod) August 20, 2022

In terms of dribbling, the two are quite similar, with Ziyech completing 57 percent of his dribbles, while Zaha completed 56 percent.

Zaha, though, averages seven dribbles attended per match, while Ziyech is about half that at 3.8, showing the Ivorian is more happy to drive forward and take players on with the ball.

In terms of shots, Ziyech does tend to attempt more, averaging 2.3 per match, compared to Zaha’s 1.7 – the Moroccan does tend to go for goal more and from greater distance as well.

What Chelsea do in the rest of the window remains to be seen, but they have two good options here and it would be worthwhile considering both.