Football - The beautiful game

The Current Situation Chelsea lost 3-1 to Manchester City on January 3rd, 2021. This has prompted a reaction from a significant chunk of Chelsea supporters, calling for Frank Lampard's head. But is the situation really that bad at Stamford Bridge? Things began to take a turn for Lampard when his side lost to a "relegation-threatened" Arsenal side 3-1. The gunners were seen as a massively inferior side who were in terrible form when they beat Chelsea. As it always is, this prompted an over-reaction from Football Twitter. As poor as Arsenal had been, they were still a good team and were underperforming in many aspects. But looking at the expected points in that match gives a clearer picture of what actually happened. The game finished with an xG of Arsenal (1.94) - Chelsea (2.25). This means Chelsea were slightly better than Arsenal and should have at least gotten a point out of that game. If we recollect the goals Arsenal scored, it was a very soft penalty on Tierney (conv...

1. Background FC Barcelona are currently 5th in La Liga, sitting 8 points behind table-toppers Atletico Madrid having played one game more. They have only won 3 out of the last 5 matches. This season could be that season where Barcelona could miss out on Champions League football as well.   Barcelona have scored 28 goals in the league, and unsurprisingly Lionel Messi is their top scorer with 7 goals. The injured Ansu Fati is the second top scorer, with 4 goals. With the new year on the horizon, these are pitiful statistics for a club of Barcelona's stature.  What is more worrying, is that Messi is finally underperforming his xG and xA this season. If this continues, this could be an extremely long season for the cules. 2. Statistics Barcelona are actually top of the league for expected goals, with an xG of around 33 goals (actual goals scored -> 28). On the surface, this suggests that the players will sooner or later catch up to the xG and would start scoring on a more...