It’s no wonder Norwich want to keep hold of Leroy Lita.
The on-loan Reading man has netted four goals in four games for the Canaries up until last weekend and was the Actim Index’s top-scoring player over the round.
Lita earned 61 points for his hat-trick in the win against high-flying Wolves, his treble coming from three shots on target and three off. It was the fifth highest score of the campaign.
Lita wasn’t the only striker to showcase his talents over the round. Birmingham’s Garry O’Connor moved up to 21st overall with his best score of the season so far – a healthy 54 points in his side’s 3-1 defeat of Sheffield Wednesday last weekend.
O’Connor has scored five Championship goals for the Blues this season from just eight shots on target, playing just 540 minutes so far in the league campaign.
Speaking of shots, there’s a surprise name at the top of the list of those on target so far this season. Most money would be on one of the division’s frontmen to be pulling the trigger. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (18) is up there, as is Neil Mellor (20), David McGoldrick (21) and Nicky Maynard (19). However, the man most unafraid to chance his arm is Wolves midfielder Michael Kightly, who has made the keeper work 24 times. Throw in 18 efforts off target and you see why with five goals he is the second-highest scoring midfielder in the Championship.
At the other end of the pitch, the race to be the golden glove of the Championship is a close-run affair. Two stoppers with plenty of Premier League experience currently lead the way in the shape of Birmingham’s Maik Taylor and Reading’s Marcus Hahnemann.
Taylor is the top-ranked keeper on the Actim Index as it stands, sitting in ninth place overall with 192 points from 13 games.
Hahnemann is just a point and a place adrift in 10th, having played just seven minutes less than his rival.
QPR’s Radek Cerny is 10 places further back and 21 points shy – with 16 of the division’s goalkeeper’s occupying a place in the top 100 rated players in this week’s Actim Index.
We turn our attention to youth in our next segment as we investigate the battle to be the top teenager in the Championship this term.
Surprisingly, no player under the age of 20 occupies a berth in the current top 100. The kids aren’t cutting the mustard it appears, with Norwich defender Elliott Omuzusi the highest-placed nipper in 142nd. The 19-year-old has 109 points from 12 appearances, averaging nine points per appearance. Maybe the Championship is no place for the kids after all.
We can’t look at our whippersnappers without eyeing the old timers. In the 35’s and over bracket the aforementioned Taylor and Hahnemann lead the way in 9th and 10th. Burnley defender Graham Alexander is a couple of places further back in 12th, with Kevin Phillips surging into the top 20 in 19th spot with a good climb this week. Sheffield United’s veteran midfielder Gary Speed is the other old boy in the top 100 in 88th.
