World Cup 2022: The current stat-leaders heading into the forthcoming international break

Following on from our look at the stat-leaders in European World Cup qualification last month, we’re delving back into the figures to see which players rank top of the pile for goals, shots, shots on target, fouls and yellow cards heading into the forthcoming international break.

Goals

Memphis Depay leads the way in the top-scorer chart. The Netherlands forward has nine goals to his name so far, with Israel's Eran Zahavi following closely behind on eight, and Serbian hitman Aleksandar Mitrovic in third spot with seven to his name in just five starts.

Shots 

With the majority of teams playing either seven or eight games in European World Cup qualification, there is a sizable sample pool for us to look at for this metric. Below, we’ve listed the highest-ranked players for shots and ordered them by their shots per game. Each player has played a minimum of three matches.

(all per game, minimum 3 apps.)

7 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal

6.5 - Stevan Jovetic, Montenegro

6 - Memphis Depay, Netherlands

5.7 - Erling Haaland, Norway

5 - Gareth Bale, Wales

5 - Marko Arnautovic, Austria

4.5 - Eran Zahavi, Israel

4.3 - Edin Dzeko, Bosnia and Herzegovina

4.3 - Romelu Lukaku, Belgium

4.1 - Aleksandar Mitrovic, Serbia

Shots on Target

A familiar name tops the pile for the most Shots on Target, with Manchester United and Portugal talisman Cristiano Ronaldo averaging a colossal 3.4 per game in World Cup qualifying, which means that almost half of his overall shots have tested the keeper! 

(all per game, minimum 3 apps.)

Fouls

Wales’ Kieffer Moore unexpectedly leads the way for fouls per game in World Cup qualifying, committing an average of 3.8 per game, closely followed by Estonia’s Henri Anier who is averaging a shade under with 3.6.

(all per game, minimum 3 apps.)

Yellow cards

Albania’s Klaus Gjasula just cannot escape the referee’s notebook, seeing yellow on all five of his appearances in WC qualification so far - one of which he didn’t even start!