Football news moves so quickly that it’s easy to miss a story, and recently we’ve been enjoying looking back at stories from just one year ago to see how far we’ve come.
Chelsea ahead of last season on goals and xG
Chelsea players celebrate a goal in a huddle.
Chelsea players celebrate a goal in a huddle.
In November 2024 Enzo Maresca was really settled in after a strong start to his Chelsea career, and we were using the international break to take a look at how the Blues’ stats were stacking up with their rivals. We were in the same place in the table, but we were looking a little deeper than that.
“The Blues are 27th for shots per game, with 14. That needs to go up too – and probably will as a result of more possession. Man City are miles clear of us with 19.3, Tottenham, Fulham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool all have more than us too – and that’s from the Premier League alone.
“Our xG for the season is 20th, showing we’re at least getting a decent quality of shot in. We’re only a little behind City in this stat, at 21.16 to their 23.21. Closing that gap won’t be easy, but as our attackers mature and our attacking play develops, we expect it to happen.”
So where do we stand this season? We’re up to 15th in shots per game, but our 14.4 is only marginally more. Clearly there just aren’t as many shots being taken across the continent this season.
Our xG is 22.59, so another improvement. We’d have hoped for a bigger impact for 12 months of work, but it should be remembered that the red cards we’ve picked up this season will have dragged the numbers down.
In other news…
Romeo Lavia is currently injured, and his struggles as a Chelsea player continue. It was very surprising to hear that sources are saying he was offered as a part exchange to our Premier League rivals in the summer.
Chelsea are into the Carabao Cup quarter final, and while they want to win, it’s not a priority according to Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph.
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Stamford Bridge with a generic view.