Taking a look at how brilliant Tella and Akpom have been in the Championship this season 

Nathan Tella and Chuba Akpom are having their best seasons to date in their career for Burnley and Middlesbrough respectively in the Championship, the second tier of English football. 

Akpom is the top scorer while Tella ranks third in the top scorers' list. 

Tella has produced 17 goals and 3 assists for the Clarets in 34 games while Akpom has 24 goals and 2 assists in 31 games for Boro.

It is no coincidence that Akpom has more goals from his shots on target than the Southampton loanee. 

Interestingly, the Hale end graduate has also completed more passes, more progressive passes, and more carries into the final third than Tella. This shows how brilliant Akpom has been as an attacking midfielder, operating just behind Cameron Archer, Middlesbrough centre forward.

Conversely, the Burnley forward has been more involved in more attacking sequences than Akpom. This explains why Tella has more shot-creating actions per game than Akpom( a pass, shot, dribble or foul drawn before a shot is taken).

What sets them apart is that  Akpom is a better-attacking threat because he finds himself in more dangerous positions and has been more clinical than Tella in front of the goal. 

However, Tella is more involved in the attacking build-up and that explains why he has mo shots-creating actions than Akpom.

It would also interest you to know that both have contributed defensively to the success of their teams so far.

Akpom has won 50% of his duels while Tella has won 40% of his duels. Though Tella has made more defensive actions (tackles plus interceptions) because he has played 3 more games than Akpom. 

The above has shown how fantastic this Nigerian duo have been for both Burnley and Middlesbrough though it remains to be seen if they can reproduce the same in the Premier League or any of the other top 5 leagues in Europe.

Stats provided by FBREF

Abdulkareem Abdulhamid

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