Season Review 2019/20

Welcome

Welcome to Stats Perform’s English Premier League season review for the 2019/20 season.

Interactive and showcasing a host of detailed performance metrics, this report provides insight into the league’s standout performers, applying innovative frameworks produced by our team of AI scientists.

Within this review, we share a comprehensive breakdown of performance at the key ends of the pitch, as well as sharing detailed insight on team style, both in and out of possession. Detailed player analysis also features, with key metrics ranked across different positions.

Notable additions to our reviews this summer include details on the teams most effective at generating opportunities from high turnovers, together with insights into how each team approached the changes to the goal kick rule. We also apply metrics to highlight the ball carrying players who were effective at generating goalscoring opportunities through running with the ball.

These new features reflect Stats Perform’s ongoing commitment to further explore how performance data can inform a club’s decision-making across performance analysis, recruitment and long-term strategic planning.

We hope you find some interesting insights from this review.

Team

Expected Goals (For)

Overview

Key Points:

• Ranked by league position, this table outlines teams’ performances in front of goal, from both open play and set piece situations.

• Manchester City’s ability to generate high quality chances from open play was demonstrated by amassing an xG output of 72.2 from 575 shots. They exceeded the xG output of champions Liverpool by nearly 18, who ranked second in the metric having generated an xG of 54.8.

• 36% of Burnley’s xG output came from set pieces, the highest ratio in the league. Tottenham sit at the other end of the spectrum, having generated 89% of their xG output from open play.

• Exploring overperformance against these metrics, five clubs scored at least two more goals than expected from set pieces, and in contrast eight clubs underperformed by at least two goals. The most notable of these were Watford, who perhaps would have expected to score nearly six more goals from the chances they generated from set plays. The Hornets also underperformed from open play, creating chances worth an xG of 32.7 but only found the net on 24 occasions.

Expected Goals For

		Set Play : Total	Open Play			Set Play
	Team	xG Ratio	Shots	xG	Goals	SP Shots	SP xG	SP Goals
	Liverpool	0.16	450	54.8	61	136	11.0	17
	Manchester City	0.14	575	72.2	77	159	13.2	17
	Manchester United	0.14	416	42.6	47	114	9.1	8
	Chelsea	0.17	459	53.5	51	159	12.1	11
	Leicester City	0.21	398	44.4	53	135	13.3	7
	Tottenham Hotspur	0.11	346	39.8	45	94	5.5	8
	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0.21	337	40.1	34	120	11.4	11
	Arsenal	0.19	292	36.3	41	111	9.0	12
	Sheffield United	0.25	254	32.1	29	98	11.0	6
	Burnley	0.36	256	28.7	25	128	17.4	13
	Southampton	0.25	346	38.8	38	148	14.5	11
	Everton	0.30	297	35.4	30	171	15.7	11
	Newcastle United	0.25	288	26.0	24	110	9.1	14
	Crystal Palace	0.28	249	23.9	19	124	10.0	7
	Brighton and Hove Albion	0.29	333	31.3	22	127	13.4	12
	West Ham United	0.28	288	32.3	31	125	14.1	14
	Aston Villa	0.30	323	29.3	24	132	13.4	15
	Bournemouth	0.31	235	28.4	19	150	14.1	15
	Watford	0.21	295	32.7	24	121	10.5	4
	Norwich City	0.21	302	27.4	20	105	7.6	3

Graphic

Definitions

Metric	Definition
Set Play	Chances occuring as a result of a corner, direct free kick, indirect free kick or throw-in.
Set Play : Total xG Ratio	The proportion of a team’s total xG that resulted from set plays.
Expected Goals (xG)	Expected Goals (xG) measures the quality of a shot based on several variables such as assist type, shot angle and distance from goal, whether it was a headed shot and whether it was defined as a big chance. Adding up a player or team’s expected goals can give us an indication of how many goals a player or team should have scored on average, given the shots they have taken.

Expected Goals (Against)

Overview

Key Points:

• Of the teams to qualify for the Champions League, only Chelsea conceded more goals from open play than their xG total would suggest. The Blues conceded chances at a similar quality level to Manchester United, who recorded the lowest output in the league, yet conceded 14 more goals than Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s men.

• For the second successive season, Newcastle’s xG conceded from set pieces was the highest in the league. The Magpies conceded 98 more shots than Manchester City, who recorded the Premier League’s lowest output.

• Nine teams conceded fewer goals than their xG output, with Crystal Palace being notable for conceding nearly eight goals fewer than xG would project. Together with Leicester, Tottenham and Sheffield United conceded the fewest goals from set pieces, however based on the quality of chances both teams conceded, we would have perhaps expected them to have conceded up to 50% more set piece goals during the campaign.

Expected Goals Against

		Set Play : Total	Open Play			Set Play
	Team	xG Ratio	Shots	xG	Goals	SP Shots	SP xG	SP Goals
	Liverpool	0.18	264	30.5	24	77	6.9	7
	Manchester City	0.17	203	29.0	24	74	6.2	7
	Manchester United	0.25	269	26.0	21	117	9.6	11
	Chelsea	0.29	202	26.1	35	118	11.3	14
	Leicester City	0.21	260	28.4	25	108	9.8	6
	Tottenham Hotspur	0.23	386	37.5	34	146	12.5	6
	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0.21	284	28.1	29	112	7.9	9
	Arsenal	0.24	387	36.5	26	158	13.4	15
	Sheffield United	0.24	298	36.5	32	130	12.1	6
	Burnley	0.21	389	36.2	38	145	10.5	7
	Southampton	0.20	324	39.8	45	124	10.5	11
	Everton	0.24	305	34.1	35	118	11.6	15
	Newcastle United	0.28	392	46.5	39	172	19.0	15
	Crystal Palace	0.29	363	40.5	39	148	16.7	9
	Brighton and Hove Albion	0.24	374	41.0	40	122	13.6	10
	West Ham United	0.17	368	48.7	44	127	11.1	10
	Aston Villa	0.21	440	49.2	46	162	14.8	15
	Bournemouth	0.17	436	48.1	50	117	10.5	10
	Watford	0.20	358	40.2	37	129	12.0	16
	Norwich City	0.23	437	47.0	51	163	15.3	17

Graphic