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