Premier League 22/23: Gameweek 36 (May 13-15 & 18)

[SA Gunner]

Newcastle xgoals 2.99 Brighton 0.53
Arsenal xgoals 0.76 Brighton 1.71

Good stats to show. It also shows why XG is not the only stat that explains how a football match plays out.

That’s why we have further stats like field tilt, touches in opposition box, final third entries, white on goal, shorts on target, passes completed, pass accuracy and all that good stuff.

 

[ptrcopp]

Think both you guys are right

Brighton are very reliant on scoring the first goal for their game because it allows them to stay calm. They were also happier vs Arsenal to stay longer at 0-0 than they are in other games eg against Everton. Brighton aren’t experienced at breaking down defences but are happy to play around a press. Against both Everton and Newcastle they felt they needed to push forward more to score and that opened up masses of space for Everton and Newcastle.

De Zerbi has a great strategy to play out the back and the players execute it v well especially when comfortable. They stretch the opposition, stretching the pitch vertically very well opening pockets of space for players to move into. However, we were also very poor at countering that… which we needed to do because they scored first. And we gifted them every on of their goals too, which doesn’t help.