Premier League title challengers Manchester City and Liverpool lead the league in two key metrics.
Expected goals or xG is a statistic that measures the quality of the shots a team has in a game. For example, if a player has a shot from the penalty spot the xG value might be 0.75 whereas a player who has a shot from 40 yards out might generate an xG value of 0.15 out of 1, with 1 being 100% chance of scoring the shot.
Liverpool lead the pack in terms of xG created, meaning that they have created the highest quality goalscoring chances out of anyone in the Premier League so far this season. Man City come in second place for this.
However, it is Man City who are dominating the metric for xG conceded, while it is Chelsea who are second best for their defensive displays.
You can see the full graph below.
— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) November 14, 2021
While City and Liverpool are the two teams clearly in the best positions, after them are league leaders Chelsea and high-flying West Ham United who seem to be verifying why they are in the top four.
Interestingly, the graph also shows how poorly certain teams have performed in both metrics.
Manchester United as one example have a decent xG created value but score very poorly for xG conceded.
Likewise Arsenal and especially Tottenham Hotspur have also scored poorly on at least one account.
It will be interesting to see how these metrics evolve as the season progresses.