This Week in Stats: Alexis Sanchez made his mark for Manchester United

Alexis Sanchez made his first start for Manchester United, Leicester may have found another cut price gem in France and why do Chelsea need a new striker?

Just as all eyes were on Virgil van Dijk making his Liverpool debut in the last round, so they looked to Alexis Sanchez as the fourth round of the FA Cup got underway on Friday.

The Chilean began on the left of a front three, with Marcus Rashford central and Juan Mata on the right. Manchester United haven’t used a 4-3-3 formation too often this season, but that may change now.

A front three containing the guile of the former Arsenal man, the power of Lukaku and the pace of Rashford or Anthony Martial would trouble even the most adept of defenses.

Yeovil Town, of the fourth tier in English soccer, don’t fall into that category. That was apparent for all to see when Sanchez played in Rashford to open the scoring. The home side had ample opportunity to clear the ball between Rashford receiving it and shooting, but failed to do so.

It didn’t go down as an assist for Sanchez, thanks to the error by Yeovil’s Tom James. The new United number 7 did get his first in their colors for their second goal, though. As the Red Devils launched a counter-attack from a Yeovil corner, Sanchez teed up Ander Herrera, who scored.

In total, United’s new boy created six chances when none of his colleagues managed more than two. Even when nothing came of an attack, Sanchez was involved in most of their best moves going forward.

Creating so many chances against a team 86 places lower in the league is not worth getting too excited about. It did suggest Sanchez has become swiftly attuned to the wavelength of his new colleagues, though, which can only bode well for the future. United marched on into the last 16 of the FA Cup with minimal fuss.

Have Leicester unearthed another gem?

A far less high-profile debutant this week was Fousseni Diabaté of Leicester. The Foxes have struck gold with low profile signings from France before; N’golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez are the two most notable examples.

Diabaté joined from French second division side Gazélec Ajaccio two weeks ago, and made his first appearance on Saturday as Leicester won 5-1 at Peterborough. The Malian made an instant impact, opening the scoring after nine minutes. He added his second with three minutes to play, to cap a very impressive debut.

As with Sanchez, the standard of opposition shouldn’t be ignored; Peterborough are in the third tier, and 44 places below Leicester. But it was certainly a great debut for a player who has never played top flight soccer in any country.

The Foxes’ new boy looked impressive on the ball. He only misplaced three of his 37 passes, and as all but three of them were in the Peterborough half, that’s no mean feat. Diabaté also completed four dribbles, which was more than any of his teammates. Two of them were in the opposition box, including one for his first goal.

He also showed a good poacher’s instinct for his second strike. Demarai Gray’s shot was saved but spilled, and Diabaté fired the ball into the roof of the net. He only scored three goals in 18 appearances in Ligue 2, so don’t expect him to score too often, but he certainly looks capable.

Leicester will hope to hang on to Riyad Mahrez beyond the end of the January transfer window. In Diabaté, they may have already lined up a fine replacement anyway.

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Batshuayi shows Chelsea don’t need another striker

Another player who picked up two goals this weekend was Michy Batshuayi for Chelsea. He had four shots, all of which were on target and all of which were from the center of the box. Finding the space in there, as he did for his first goal, is a fine talent to possess.

There was some luck with his second, as Jamaal Lascelles appeared to have blocked the shot but his intervention only caused the ball to loop over the goalkeeper and into the net. Even so, the Belgian kept up his fine record when playing a full match for the Blues. It just doesn’t happen often enough.

This was just the seventh time Batshuayi has completed 90 minutes since joining Chelsea 18 months ago. In those matches, he has scored 10 goals and assisted a further three. Not that the opposition has been the most taxing: prior to today, the former Marseille striker had played a full match against Bristol Rovers, Peterborough, Brentford, Qarabag, Nottingham Forest and Brighton.

All he can do is take his chance when he gets one, and he unquestionably did so this weekend. Batshuayi has scored or assisted a goal every 73 minutes for the club, so can’t do much more.

Yet Chelsea are constantly being linked to strikers from other Premier League clubs. Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch bring certain attributes, but they don’t have scoring records to match that of Batshuayi.

They can certainly be described as target men, though when Alvaro Morata is the top scorer of headed goals in the Premier League this season, do Chelsea really need one? Batshuayi’s fine record suggests otherwise.