Analytico FC

Does possession even matter?🤔 The three teams with the lowest average possession this season were all relegated😬 Possession alone doesn’t guarantee success. But over time, controlling the ball means controlling chances too⚽️ Should more teams look to dominate the ball?👀

Whose performances are the most Ballon d'Or worthy? Comparing 10 per-90 metrics for Kane, Yamal and Mbappé... Yamal leads in 6 of them🤯 But he's quite far behind Kane and Mbappé in terms of goal scoring. Then again, who isn't😅 But it's not just data that counts. Trophies matter too. Kane: 3 Yamal: 2 Mbappé: 0 There's no obvious winner this year. Who gets your vote?

El Clásico tonight🤩 Who'll decide it? The killer goalscorer?🇫🇷 Or the complete teenager?🇪🇸 That sounds quite oxymoronic. But Lamine Yamal is seriously complete aged just 19. He outperforms Mbappé in every stat I investigated bar goal scoring. He even marginally edged finishing quality🤯 But Mbappé's goal scoring this past year has been exceptional... averaging 1.07 goals/90 across the League, UCL and World Cup😱 Whatever happens, expect goals😅

How worried should Crystal Palace be? They're 1 point above the relegation zone. 19th on xPts And they lost again today. But what's more worrying is they lost to the WORST performing team in the league😬 Newcastle sit bottom on xPts. But are comfortably in 8th in the table. Forest are the 4th highest performing team in the league, but find themselves in the relegation zone. It feels like just a matter of time before they click.

What an awful day for Manchester United... And Michael Carrick. Is that his last game in charge?😬 Bournemouth were excellent🍒 They dominated the match and finished with a 67% chance-based win probability. Where do The Red Devils go from here?

Como have just beaten Manchester United 4-1. That should be a major shock, but it isn't. Partly because of where Manchester United are right now. But also because of Cesc Fàbregas. Based on 24/25 and 25/26 league data, Fàbregas' side are showing similar underlying numbers to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. And that's without the unlimited budget😅 Just how bright is Cesc's future?

Will PSG win 3 #UCL in a row?🏆 They were the favourites before the competition started. And after sweeping aside Man City and Barcelona in the last two weeks, is there anyone who can stop them?😬 4-2 on the night, and it could've been a whole lot more if it wasn't for García. PSG finished the night with a 65% chance-based win probability. What. A. Game.

We all know Haaland is the best striker in the Premier League, if not the world. But does the data agree? 👀 Obviously yes. How could it not?😅 Isak, Ekitiké and João Pedro also rank highly. García's numbers are impressive... but can he replicate them in the PL? Jackson's numbers from his previous spell in the PL are good. Will he kick on now that he's the main man at Villa?🤔

Palace plummeting, Sunderland sliding, and are Bournemouth back? Palace's thrashing sees them bottom of the xPts table. Sunderland drop from 9th to 14th in the xPts table after accumulating just 0.02xPts at the weekend😱 Bournemouth sit 4th on xPts. Can they kick on after getting their first win of the season? And perhaps under the radar... Is Hull's lack of creation beginning to catch up with them?😬

How much is Wirtz struggling? 👁️ The eye says a lot. 📈 The data says he's doing ok. Comparing his entire time in the Premier League with 20 other PL No.10s, he ranks in the 79th percentile or above in 4 key metrics. And he's about average for non-penalty goals per 90 and xA/90. But... His assists and big chances created see him sitting towards the lower end of the sample. And you could argue, they're the two most important metrics for a No.10😬 The £100m+ price tag certainly isn't helping him either. Do you think he deserves more time, or is recent criticism justified?🤔

Who else loves to watch PSG?😅 They were exceptional in that 1st half. But Manchester City can count themselves unlucky to lose that game. PSGs are just BEYOND clinical. Based on chance creation, Man City had a 68% win probability before PSG's penalty. But no matter how good your chance creation is, you can't expect much when you concede 4 at home😬

Is Saka COMFORTABLY the best RW in the Premier League? That's what my API suggests👀 Estêvão ranks 2nd. A 19-year-old already posting better underlying numbers than most other RWs is scary for the rest of the PL😅 There's then a big drop-off to the rest of the established PL players. Do you think Saka and Estêvão are the two best RWs in the PL, or is there another player you'd take?👇

Marinakis, WAIT... Forest sit 14th in the Table after 6 games. That won't go down well with the Forest hierarchy😬 But did you know only Arsenal and Man City have accumulated more than Nottingham Forest's 10.26 xPts this season?👀 Maybe the results are just around the corner. Bournemouth and Sunderland fans will be hoping the same, with each of them 8 places below their xPts position. Who should be worried right now?🚨

Red card ruiner? Liverpool had a 50% chance-based win probability before the red card. City's was 7%. By the end of the game... Liverpool: 26% City: 45% respectively. It definitely wasn't a 3-0 game. But City's quality in the final third was absurd. Crazy what £900m in sham contracts can get you😉

Should your club RUN more? Arsenal lead this season's running statistics... And are also favourites for the title🏆 But Man City are currently 1st in the PL table, despite covering less ground than 17 teams. The relationship between distance covered and xG difference is a weak one. Covering more ground does not mean you will outperform opponents. Fulham, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are good examples of this.

£34m for the BEST LW in the Premier League?👀 New Arsenal signing Tzolis ranks 1st in my API🔝 Although that's based on Belgian Pro League data. He has made a decent start to life in the PL, but replicating those numbers will be tough. Doku ranks highest among the recognised PL players. Barcola is 3rd. There's then a huge gap to the rest. Who's your favourite?👇

🇵🇹 Nuno Mendes has the highest API of all 30 Ballon d'Or nominees👀 He also won 4 trophies last season. That doesn't necessarily mean he deserves to win... But his API score does highlight just how impressive his underlying numbers are. Messi also scores highly, but can you really win the Ballon d'Or playing outside the Top 5 leagues?🤔 Yamal, Olise and Bruno Fernandes all rank highly, but Bruno is trophyless, which probably hurts his case. Kane's API, despite scoring for fun, is fairly average. Who do you think deserves it this year?👇

£34m gets you the BEST No.10 in the Premier League?👀 That's the fee Man City paid for Cherki. He comfortably ranks 1st in my API🔝 Bruno Fernandes is 2nd, then there's a huge gap to the rest. Foden is the best of the rest, followed by Enciso and Wirtz😮 Maybe Foden and Wirtz aren't performing as poorly as some think🤔 Who do you think is the best No.10 in the Premier League?

What's Harry Kane's BEST season? His goal scoring at Bayern has gone to another level📈 He's in with a real chance of winning this year's Ballon d'Or after registering: ⚽️ 64 goals 🎯 8 assists A personal favourite was 20/21. He won the Premier League golden boot AND playmaker awards🤯 If only England had managed to win the Euros that summer... but the less said about that, the better😅

Which players are taking the highest-quality shots? Calvert-Lewin and Brobbey are recording the highest npxG/shot📈 Haaland combines a high npxG/shot with the highest shots/90🤖 But perhaps most interesting is Semenyo. Lowest npxG/shot Lowest shots/90 But still scored 3 goals. Ruthless finishing from him so far. Imagine if his shot quality starts to improve😮

Is Brentford's record signing the BEST CM in the Premier League?👀 The data can make that case, though Sangaré's API does use his most recent Ligue 1 season. A full PL campaign is a big test💪 Elliot Anderson ranks 2nd. His £116m move to City was a huge fee, but his underlying numbers place him above most others. Which CM do you think ranks higher on the eye test than the API?🤔