Manchester City vs Chelsea is our live game on Newstalk Sport. Kick off is at 1.30pm with commentary from Dave McIntyre and Republic of Ireland centurion Kevin Kilbane .

With sugar daddies at the helm of Manchester City and Chelsea, both clubs have a number of big-name players to call upon.

But if you were to identify one key player from each team, you wouldn’t have to look much further than the Spanish duo of David Silva and Juan Mata.

Man City host Chelsea tomorrow with four points separating the sides, but which one of their Spanish stars has been most effective this season?

Positionally the former Valencia team-mates have played distinct roles this season with Mata often playing in the central attacking midfield role in a 4-2-3-1 while Silva has often started on the right of midfield with licence to roam inside.

Thanks to his central role, Mata has been a regular on the scoresheet for Chelsea, weighing in with 17 goals in all competitions to make him the Blues' top goalscorer this season. Silva has been comparatively goal shy, netting just three times in the league despite a similar number of shots taken and a comparable accuracy rate.

Both players have created about 2.5 chances per game and have pass accuracy rates in the mid 80s, but despite having a significantly better cross completion rate, Silva has only made five Premier League assists to Mata’s nine.

However Silva is superior defensively. He has won over 87 per cent of his tackles – surprising considering the style of player that he is – in comparison to Mata’s 54 per cent. The Manchester City man has also been significantly superior aerially and in one-on-one battles, while he has also had more interceptions – although that may be related to the fact that he has greater defensive duties than Mata.

Overall it seems there is little to choose between them, but in terms of attacking impact Mata has been the most effective both as a goalscorer and a creator in a much more fluid system.