Sevilla FC played against NK Maribor this past Tuesday in their tenth official game of season in a campaign which has seen a strong start from Eduardo Berizzo's team. The Nervionenses have put together a start of seven wins, two draws and just the one loss, scoring 15 goals and conceding 8 in the process - keeping six clean sheets as well.
These exceptional stats have translated to third place in the League Championship - with the same points tally as achieved in 2014/15 and two points more than had been picked up last season - and to leaders in Group E of the Campions League, having snatched an historic away point at Anfield and winning with dominance at home against Maribor.
The start of Sevilla FC is worthy of particular credit when you consider the considerable rotations Eduardo Berizzo has made in these first ten games. Only Sergio Rico has played in all ten, and just 9 players have played more than 450 minutes of the 900 played by the team in official competition.
In that regard, the fact that only three players, Sergio Rico (895), N'Zonzi (793) and Lenglet (674), have surpassed the 650 minute mark, and only four more have surpassed 600 minutes - Navas (637), Escudero (630), Mercado (612) and Wissam Ben Yedder (601) - speaks volumes. Another stat which sheds light on the distribution of first-team importance is that 17 players have played five games or more. It is worth noting that this is a group which does not include Kjaer (four matches) nor Franco Vázquez (four matches) - two players who one would expect to be involved in games, but have nevertheless found themselves limited in their involvement because of injury.