Premier League Matchday 29 by numbers

The highlight of Matchday 29 was one of football's greatest players, Cristiano Ronaldo, putting on a prime show and bagging a hat-trick. Elsewhere, it was a strong weekend of Premier League football.

Matchday 29 isn’t actually over. Crystal Palace host Manchester City in the final game of the gameweek tonight, Monday 14th at 8pm GMT.

But for the sake of this article, let's pretend the game has had to be suspended and there were only nine games played this weekend.

So with 18 teams were on show this matchday, it was a decent weekend of Premier League football.

The teams towards the top of the table got the results they needed, the relegation battle had some more heat added to it, and the Manchester United vs Tottenham game was a close affair as expected.

With that said, we’ve taken a look at the weekend and put together this rundown of Matchday 29 by numbers.

 

Goals: 22

22 goals between the nine games for the weekend. That averages to 2.4 goals in each game. 

It's not the most prolific weekend of Premier League football but isn’t a bad one either.

The highest scoring game of the weekend was the five goals in the Manchester United vs Tottenham game, which finished 3-2 to United.

Every game did have a goal, with there being two 1-0’s, three 2-0’s and three 2-1’s.

So each game was close and contested, leading to a different kind of weekend.

 

Expected Goals: 22

This is a first. No rounding up or down, no fudging of any numbers to make it happen. For the first time - at least it is since we started doing this piece each week - the xG exactly matches the actual number of goals scored.

For the most part, games and the teams involved were matching their xG’s. Arsenal had a 2.3 xG to Leicester 0.3, with the final score being 2-0 to Arsenal.

Similarly, Leeds beat Norwich 2-1 on 2.7 xG for the home side and 1.3 xG for Norwich.

However, not every game matched their expected goals…

Man United (1.1 xG) 3 - 2 (1.4xG) Spurs

Manchester United vs Tottenham was exactly the game most expected. Both teams are fighting for fourth place, the final guaranteed Champions League spot, so it was a real six-pointer of a game.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the star of the show, putting on a prime CR7 performance by seizing a hat-trick and getting the win for his Red Devils.

But everything about the game from a look at the stats shows a fairly even contest. 

Spurs had the most possession, with 56%. Both had 10 shots total, but United had the most on target with six to Spurs’ three.

The difference in xG is what's on show here, because if you were looking at just the xG alone, it would tell a completely different story.

Man United picked up the win with three goals scored compared to their 1 expected (if rounding down from the 1.1) and with a lower xG than Spurs. 

Spurs’ 1.4 xG was somewhat right, though. They did only find the back of the United net once themselves. The second goal came courtesy of Harry Maguire.

 

Southampton 62% possession in loss to Watford

Southampton is now officially on a slide, as with the 2-1 loss to Watford, they have now lost their last three games on the trot. 

It's a bad loss for the Saints considering the places that each team are in, with Southampton sitting in the mid table, while Watford are fighting in the relegation battle.

However, it was a typical Southampton performance. They controlled possession, having the most possession for a losing side this weekend.

They also had more shots than Watford, more shots on target, had more touches, made more passes and had plenty more corners, 11 to Watford's three, to be precise.

Everything was there for them to win except for the ability to actually get the ball into the goal.

 

Robert Sanchez 7/8 saves (87%)

Looking past the fact that he should have been sent off for a terrible challenge in the Luis Diaz goal, Sanchez had a secure game.

Liverpool had a total of 17 shots, with eight of them hitting the target. Sanchez, who has shown good ability throughout the year, was able to handle seven of the eight shots, giving him a very solid 87% save percentage.

It wasn’t the best of the weekend, as some goalkeepers had a 100% save percentage, but only because they faced one or two shots on target.

Sanchez faced the most shots on target this weekend and great save percentage from it.

 

Wolves 535/604 passes made (89%)

Wolves faced a struggling Everton side this weekend at Goodison Park, and came away with a 1-0, captain Connor Coady being their goal scorer. 

The visiting side dominated the stats sheet. They had more possession (62%), shots (14), shots on target (3), and touches (735).

They also made more passes and made more successful passes than Everton. 535 passes made from 604 attempts gave them a weekend-high 89% pass accuracy. It's also the most successful passes for a team this weekend.

Everton wasn’t great for passing, but a 76% pass accuracy rate isn’t terrible. The lowest percentage of the weekend came from Newcastle, who made 145 of their 237 of their passes, giving them 61% pass accuracy