The best and fastest football news aggregator for the UK
The pressure in professional sport is huge. For the Championship promotion contenders it is that time of the season when the gauge is in the red.
Coventry City, nine points clear at the top, are dealing with not only the weight of finishing the job off but also the burden of ending the club’s 25-year wait to return to the top flight.
How they deal with that pressure will be
Ipswich forward George Hirst says the Tractor Boys have it within themselves to prove they are the best team in the Championship this season.
Town are third with 18 games remaining, eight points behind long-time leaders Coventry and five adrift of second-placed Middlesbrough, but with a game in hand on both.
After going winless in their opening four games following relegation from the Premier League last season, Town clicked into
Villa had an expected goals (xG) tally of 2.27 on Saturday, the highest by any team against the Gunners in the Premier League this season, and created five big chances, including the goals for Matty Cash and Buendia.
They have have scored 5.45 more goals [22 in total] than their xG [16.55] and conceded 5.83 fewer goals [15] than their xGA [20.83] in the Premier League this season.
The latter
Struggling Leeds ended a four-game losing run to dent Chelsea’s Premier League title charge.
The Blues dropped to fourth place – nine points behind leaders Arsenal – after a disappointing display at Elland Road.
With boss Daniel Farke under pressure, the hosts dominated the first half and struck twice through first Premier League goals for both Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka.
Chelsea rallied at the start of the second period
In simple terms, Chelsea are playing well – but not well enough to be champions.
Chelsea’s attack, even after losing Cole Palmer for more than two months through injury, is on the same level as Arsenal’s.
However, Arsenal’s incredible defensive statistics set them apart.
Historically, to win the title a team needs to average a +1 non-penalty expected goals (npXG) difference per game – meaning you are creating substantially more
Guardiola knew Arsenal were building a team capable of chasing a championship. He is waiting to see whether they have the stamina to keep up their fast start.
“The last two or three years, after the process to rebuild the club and the team, Arsenal are there. It is exceptional what they are doing for two or three seasons,” Guardiola said.
“But it is early November. Nobody wins the title
But Arsenal have had the best defence in the last two seasons and still finished second, so what’s potentially different this time around?
While it’s still early days, we’re not just looking at them having the best defence this season but one of the best in any Premier League campaign.
Their current rate of conceding just 0.38 goals per game means if they were to maintain that for the whole
Goalscoring is Gyokeres’ most obvious attribute, and there is no doubt he has been a goal machine in Portugal.
His 39 goals ranked as the most in Europe’s top 10 leagues last season, and he scored at least eight more than any other player.
It put him in an elite group – the only other players in the past 20 years to have scored at least 39 goals in a
Arsenal have been busy in the transfer market and will have several new faces in their squad when they start their Premier League season at Manchester United on Sunday, 17 August.
The Gunners have already signed winger Noni Madueke, midfielders Martin Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard, and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. They are also working to complete transfers for striker Viktor Gyokeres and young defender Cristhian Mosquera.
Zubimendi is one of the
But Berrada knows where the major external focus will be, in particular on coach Ruben Amorim, who had such a tortuous introduction to life at United following his arrival from Sporting in November.
Berrada joined United after working as chief football operations officer at City Football Group. And he can see similarities between Amorim and Pep Guardiola, who he got to know during his time at Manchester City and who,