Season restart: Premier League in focus
After a thrilling World Cup campaign, the Premier League is back.
A plethora of exciting storylines were forced into the background while the world’s best battled in Qatar – but the time has come again for the English top flight to take centre stage.
Ahead of the resumption of Premier League football on Boxing Day, Twenty3 takes a look at some of the underlying stats ahead of what could be a thrilling end to the season.
Gunning for the title
Surprise leaders Arsenal are five points clear of Manchester City.
The Gunners enjoyed an impressive start to the season – racking up 37 points from their opening 16 games – and remain unbeaten at Emirates Stadium with six wins to their name.
The centre-back partnership of Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba has blossomed, with the latter winning 103 of 121 defensive actions while making 167 ball recoveries.
This has seen them deny high-quality chances for their opponents, allowing an expected goals against tally of just 8.81.
They will have to continue without Gabriel Jesus, however, after the Brazilian underwent surgery on his knee – with no timeline for his return known as yet.
Not only will they have to replace his five goals and five assists, but also his wider contributions in carrying the ball, igniting the attack and leading the defence.
Nobody in the league has made more touches in the opposition box (98), dangerous ball recoveries (16) or attempted duels (474).
The Citizens remain favourites
Manchester City have already suffered defeats to both Liverpool and Brentford but the defending champions remain favourites to retain their title – and they lead the key underlying stats.
Marquee signing Erling Haaland has been unstoppable, netting 18 goals while finding the target with 24 of 50 shots.
Surrounded by creative players like Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, City’s attacking dominance has not ceased, registering 29 assists and 85 key passes.
They’ve racked up an impressive expected goals tally of 28.4, which is more than any other side in the English top flight.
Pep Guardiola’s side are expected to step up their chase for a seventh Premier League title.
Top four tussle
Often it has been the traditional ‘Big Six’ trading blows to take the crucial Champions League spots – but this year has a new entrant in the shape of Newcastle United.
Eddie Howe has his side flying in third. They’re led by Miguel Almirón, who has five goal contributions (four goals and one assist) in his last five league games.
They are a defensively solid unit that have won 271 loose balls and made 705 interceptions as well as executing 32 offside traps – but questions remain as to whether they can sustain this excellence.
Antonio Conte, meanwhile, has Tottenham Hotspur ticking over in fourth, with talisman Harry Kane having contributed 12 goals, one assist and 10 key passes – form he will have to maintain for Spurs to seal European qualification and potentially even push for the title.
Manchester United look to have found their form under Erik ten Hag, with the additions of Lisandro Martínez and Casemiro bringing much-needed strength to the team’s spine.
The latter is averaging an impressive 11.89 successful defensive actions per 90 minutes as well as 8.98 passes into the attacking third – demonstrating his ability both with and without the ball.
Wounded goliaths
The host of injuries suffered by Liverpool has obviously impacted their season – although the departure of Sadio Mané to Bayern Munich has also been significant.
Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah, however, have begun to find form. They’ve scored 11 goals between them.
Their biggest issues have been defensive – they have conceded 58 non-penalty shots on target which is more than Brighton (42), Crystal Palace (53) and Aston Villa (56).
Chelsea are in a similar situation on the injury front but decided to move on from Thomas Tuchel – bringing Graham Potter in as his replacement.
But patience at Stamford Bridge wears thin quickly, so the pressure on Potter will be intense in the second half of the season.
Their biggest struggles have come in the final third, having only netted 17 times and taken the 17th fewest shots in the league (142).
New kids on the block
Wolverhampton Wanderers, rooted to the bottom of the table, brought Julen Lopetegui on board to turn their fortunes around and the Basque has a lot to improve – most of all in attack.
So far they have scored a measly eight goals – two of which have been from the penalty spot – and with 14.32xG they’re just a tick above Leicester in last place.
Two points above them are Southampton, who decided to axe Ralph Hasenhüttl for Luton Town’s Nathan Jones. They are in a similarly dire situation.
Hasenhüttl’s aggressive defensive style, however, has seen them top the majority of defensive stats such as successful aerial duels (276) and defensive actions (1,693).
The Saints can also count themselves unlucky considering they have conceded the third-most goals (27) but only have an expected goals against tally of 21.52.
They have completed the 17th fewest passes (4,578), instead opting for a long ball approach that’s seen them complete 400 of 718 attempts – the second-most behind Liverpool.
It will be interesting to see how Jones adapts his approach and whether they can find form in front of goal – where they have clearly lacked ruthlessness – while also sorting out the defensive structure of the side.
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