NB: Europe refers to the top five leagues -- English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1

PASSING

Most touches of the ball in Premier League this season:

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 1859

Yaya Toure (Man City) 1655

Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) 1472

Most touches of the ball in top Euro leagues this season:

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 1859

Xabi Alonso (Bayern) 1803

Yaya Toure (Man City) 1655

Most touches of the ball in top Euro leagues per game this season:

Xabi Alonso (Bayern Munich) 120.2

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 103.3

Marco Verratti (PSG) 100.1

Most touches of the ball in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 3288

Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid, Bayern) 3169

Thiago Motta (PSG) 3154

Most touches of the ball per game in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Dani Alves (Barcelona) 100.8

Thiago Motta (PSG) 98.6

Rafinha (Bayern Munich) 95.6

Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid, Bayern) 93.2

Highest pass completion in Premier League this season (not DF, min 10 games):

Mathieu Flamini (Arsenal) 91.4%

Fernando (Man City) 90.7%

Ki Sung-Yeung (Swansea) 90.0%

John Obi Mikel (Chelsea) 89.8%

Highest pass completion in top Euro leagues this season (not DF, min 10 games):

Seydou Keita (Roma) 92.1%

Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) 91.9%

Marco Verratti (PSG) 91.5%

Highest pass completion in Premier League in 2014:

Mathieu Flamini (Arsenal) 91.2%

Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton) 89.4%

Michael Carrick (Man United) 89.3%

Highest pass completion in top Euro leagues in 2014 (not DF, min 25 games):

Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) 91.8%

Marco Verratti (PSG) 91.2%

Mathieu Flamini (Arsenal) 91.2%

Sergio Busquets and Thiago Motta have both used the ball well.

GOALS AND ASSISTS

Most goals in Premier League in 2014:

Wilfried Bony (Swansea) 20

Sergio Aguero (Man City) 18

Yaya Toure (Man City) 17

Most goals in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 37

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 35

Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon) 23

Most shots without scoring in Premier League this season:

Mario Balotelli (Liverpool) 43

Lucas Jutkiewicz (Burnley) 31

Jesus Navas (Man City) 23

Most shots without scoring in top Euro leagues this season:

Mario Balotelli (Liverpool) 43

Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Dortmund) 34

Valentin Eysseric (Nice) 32

Most shots without scoring in Premier League in 2014:

Mario Balotelli (Liverpool) 43

Yoan Gouffran (Newcastle) 41

Cheick Tiote (Newcastle) 39

Most shots without scoring in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Michael Krohn-Dehli (Celta Vigo) 51

Marcos Alonso (Sunderland, Fiorentina) 47

Yoan Gouffran (Newcastle) 41

Most shots in Premier League this season:

Sergio Aguero (Man City) 74

Graziano Pelle (Southampton) 68

Charlie Austin (QPR) 66

Wilfried Bony (Swansea) 60

Most shots in top Euro leagues this season:

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 87

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 77

Andre-Pierre Gignac (Marseille) 76

Most shots in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 183

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 180

Andre-Pierre Gignac (Marseille) 149

Most assists in Premier League this season:

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 13

Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea) 8

Leighton Baines (Everton) 7

Dusan Tadic (Southampton) 7

Most assists in Premier League in 2014:

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 13

Leighton Baines (Everton) 11

Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) 9

Most assists in top Euro leagues this season:

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 13

Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg) 10

5 players on 8 assists

Most assists in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid, Man United) 20

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 17

Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg) 16

Angel Maria leads assists in the whole of Europe.

Most assists from open play in Premier League this season:

Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea) 8

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 7

Dusan Tadic (Southampton) 7

Most assists from open play in Premier League in 2014:

Leighton Baines (Everton) 10

Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea) 8

8 players on 7 assists

Most assists from open play in top Euro leagues this season:

Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal) 8

Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea) 8

5 players on 7 assists

Most assists from open play in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid, Man United) 16

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 13

Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg) 12

Most chances created in Premier League this season:

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 59

Stewart Downing (West Ham) 54

Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) 50

Dusan Tadic (Southampton) 50

Most chances created in top Euro leagues this season:

Dimitri Payet (Marseille) 67

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) 59

Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg) 59

Stewart Downing (West Ham) 54

Most chances created in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Kevin De Bruyne (Wolfsburg) 109

Dimitri Payet (Marseille) 101

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 96

Most chances created in Premier League in 2014:

Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 92

Christian Eriksen (Tottenham) 88

Stewart Downing (West Ham) 87

Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) 85

Most chances created from open play in Premier League this season:

Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 46

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 46

Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) 43

Dusan Tadic (Southampton) 43

Most chances created from open play in Premier League in 2014:

Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 91

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 78

David Silva (Man City) 65

Most chances created from open play in top Euro leagues this season:

Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 46

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 46

Dimitri Payet (Marseille) 44

Most chances created from open play in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 91

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 89

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 78

Eden Hazard has been key to Chelsea's success.

GOALKEEPING

Most saves made in Premier League this season:

Robert Green (QPR) 69

Adrian (West Ham) 65

Brad Guzan (Aston Villa) 64

Most saves made in Premier League in 2014:

Adrian (West Ham) 142

Vito Mannone (Sunderland) 122

Brad Guzan (Aston Villa) 118

Highest shot save % in Premier League this season:

Costel Pantilimon (Sunderland) 80.4%

Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea) 75.9%

Joe Hart (Man City) 75.5%

Highest shot save % in Premier League in 2014:

Adrian (West Ham) 76.3%

Vito Mannone (Sunderland) 74.8%

Joe Hart (Man City) 73.4%

Highest shot save % in top Euro leagues this season:

Manuel Neuer (Bayern) 89.2%

Yann Sommer (Gladbach) 83.9%

Morgan De Sanctis (Roma) 83.0%

Highest shot save % in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) 83.5%

Salvatore Sirigu (PSG) 83.2%

Manuel Neuer (Bayern) 81%

Lowest shot save % in Premier League this season:

Tim Howard (Everton) 58.1%

Julian Speroni (Crystal Palace) 59.7%

Asmir Begovic (Stoke) 62.3%

Lowest shot save % in Premier League in 2014:

Tim Krul (Newcastle) 63.2%

Ben Foster (West Brom) 65.9%

Simon Mignolet (Liverpool) 66.9%

Manuel Neuer and Gianluigi Buffon star in the save % charts in Europe.

DEFENDING AND DISCIPLINE

Most tackles in Premier League this season:

Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace) 51

Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) 51

Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton) 48

Most tackles in Premier League in 2014:

Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace) 100

Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) 90

Joel Ward (Crystal Palace) 85

Most yellow cards in Premier League this season:

Lee Cattermole (Sunderland) 9

Winston Reid (West Ham) 8

Calum Chambers (Arsenal) 7

Diego Costa (Chelsea) 7

Most Prem yellow cards in Premier League in 2014:

Lee Cattermole (Sunderland) 14

Four players on 11 yellow cards

- Lee Cattermole (9) has been booked more times than any player in Europe's top five divisions this season.

Most yellow cards in top Euro leagues in 2014:

Lee Cattermole (Sunderland) 14

Alessandro Lucarelli (Parma) 14

Simao Mate Junior (Levante) 14

Most fouls committed in Premier League this season:

Victor Wanyama (Southampton) 38

Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace) 37

Jose Ulloa (Leicester) 37

Most fouls committed in Premier League in 2014:

Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace) 71

Marouane Chamakh (Crystal Palace) 59

Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton) 58

Most fouls suffered in Premier League this season:

Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 55

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 52

Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa) 38

Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) 38

Most fouls suffered in Premier League in 2014:

Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) 94

Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 93

Leighton Baines (Everton) 64

Wilfried Bony (Swansea) 64

- Diego Costa is only player to receive more than one caution for diving in the Premier League this season.

- Yaya Toure, Emanuele Giaccherini (Sunderland) and Diego Costa are the only players to receive more than one caution for diving in the Premier League in 2014.

Dale Johnson has been an editor and journalist at ESPN for 18 years. You can follow him on Twitter @dalejohnsonESPN.