In Bayern Munich’s 6-2 thumping of Mainz on Saturday, Sadio Mane continued his recent strong play with possibly his greatest performance.
When he scored a hat-trick in Napoli’s 4-0 victory over Sassuolo, Victor Osimhen in Italy’s top division, he matched achievements from both seasons.
In this article, GOAL’s Seye Omidiora selects a few obscure statistics from this week that you might have missed and explains what they represent for the top talents in Africa.
Kelechi Iheanacho
Iheanacho did not start Leicester City’s 1-0 defeat by old side Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime but had a decent impact off the bench.
The forward shot at goal twice in 20 minutes of action, outdoing Jamie Vardy who managed no efforts in 70 minutes on the pitch.
Patson Daka, also introduced with 20 minutes to play, outshot Vardy despite limited game time as the Foxes went for broke in the final quarter of the game.
Ademola Lookman
Atalanta returned to winning ways with a 2-0 win at Empoli with Lookman finding the back of the net in La Dea’s fifth away victory this term.
The attacker has now netted more league goals than he did in 2020-21 (four) and is now one goal from matching last term’s tally (six) with Leicester City.
In this form, the Bergamaschi will believe Lookman will surpass his previous best in England’s top flight.
Sadio Mane
The Bayern forward scored and assisted two in a 6-2 success over Mainz over the weekend, a result that saw Julian Nagelsmann’s crew maintain second spot on the Bundesliga table.
It was probably Mane’s finest game for FC Hollywood since signing from Liverpool, with his raw and underlying numbers blowing previous games out of the water.
Mane was involved in nine shot-creating actions, higher than his previous best (six), three goal-creating actions (previous best was one) and his expected assists (xA) of 0.8 bettered his xA from September’s draw with Union Berlin (0.2).
After a mixed start, is the Senegal international returning to his best?
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
In the same game, Choupo-Moting scored and assisted to take his tally to three goals and two assists in seven appearances (three starts).
The Cameroon international is now a goal behind last season’s Bundesliga return and has matched three goals scored from his first season in Bavaria.
Nagelsmann was seemingly against playing a natural centre-forward earlier in the season but Choupo-Moting’s recent run has brought about a slight change in approach by the Bayern boss.
Thomas Partey
Partey’s curled effort past Dean Henderson in Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest was his second goal of the campaign in a matter of weeks, following his goal in the North London derby success over Tottenham Hotspur at the start of the month.
The Ghana international’s strikes this term have both come from outside the box, signalling his threat from long-range to Arsenal’s opponents.
Interestingly, both of Partey’s Premier League goals last season were netted from inside the box and he has now matched that with two scorchers from distance in 2022-23. Balance.
Victor Osimhen
A stunning hat-trick in Napoli’s 4-0 hammering of Sassuolo not only took Osimhen to the summit of the goalscoring standings but means the Nigerian has now netted in three successive Serie A games for the third time.
The Super Eagle netted in four straight league games in 2020-21, scored in three games on the trot last season and has hit the back of the net in his last three domestic appearances this term.
Osimhen could match his scoring streak from his debut campaign if he scores in the Partenopei’s next Serie A outing with high-flying Atalanta.