Glory’s challenge to stop Victory’s lethal goal-per-game duo

They are the numbers that are sure to have Perth Glory on high alert in Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash against Melbourne Victory.

While Tony Popovic’s men boast the stingiest defence in the Hyundai A-League, they are coming up against two of the most-deadly attackers in the competition.

Swedish striker Ola Toivonen and Japanese legend Keisuke Honda – who is set to make his return from a hamstring injury at AAMI Park on Sunday – are the only two players to average either a goal or assist in each game they have played this season.

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In Toivonen’s 13 appearances he has scored 10 goals and had three assists, while Honda’s five goals and three assists have come from just eight matches.

It’s the highest average of any player in the competition, although Glory’s Chris Ikonomidis is third with seven goals and two assists from his 10 appearances for an average of 0.9 per game.

Opta goal+assist ratio

It’s no surprise that Victory and Glory are the two highest scorers so far this season either, with both clubs boasting some of the most accurate shooters in the Hyundai A-League.

Perth (56%) and Victory (54%) sit first and second respectively for shooting accuracy in 2018/19 so far.

Interestingly, it’s Glory midfielder Neil Kilkenny who is the most accurate shooter – with a minimum of five shots – from either club, with a deadly accurate 87.5% success rate.

It’s led to Kilkenny scoring an impressive four goals from midfield so far this season, and Victory keeper Lawrence Thomas will have to be on his toes whenever the 33-year-old is within range of goal.

Opta Shooting accuracy

Kilkenny is one of four players to have a shooting accuracy above 60%, with Fabio Ferreira and wing-back Ivan Franjic also hitting the target regularly.

Aside from Toivonen, Honda is the only other Victory player with a shooting accuracy above 60%.

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In fact, the Victory marquee – who has missed a large chunk of the campaign through injury – has a shooting accuracy of 71.4%, which is second only to Wellington’s Roy Krishna (72.7% with 11 goals) for players with at least five goals this season.

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