A review of some key stats from 2022/23 season

I’ve pulled together a huge spreadsheet showing some of the key stats from last season but it can be a little difficult to navigate. As a result, I’ve created a top 10 for a number of different metrics. This should help us spot some opportunities for next season. The figures include all games played – including cup and European fixtures. I’ve also included some data that Dream Team have provided that might give us an insight into how players will score with the new system. Given all the changes with the game, I think it will be important to consider some of these stats to give us a chance of finding a bargain.

Top 10 point scorers (old scoring system)

Haaland – 431 points
Rashford – 301 points
Kane – 289 points
Fernandes – 283 points
Salah – 275 points
De Bruyne – 252 points
Trippier – 230 points
Mahrez – 197 points
Saka – 195 points
Odegaard – 190 points

Almost irrelevant with a new scoring system coming into play but the key takeaways for me is that Kane did well but won’t have extra European Fixtures. Trippier did very well as a defender and will have extra fixtures. Rashford had a good season but played a lot of Europa League games. Salah will be in the Europa League next season and if he gets a lot of game time it could result in a lot of points.

Top 10 point scorers (new scoring system)

Haaland – 476 points
Rashford – 373 points
Salah – 355 points
Kane – 353 points
Fernandes – 349 points
De Bruyne – 287 points
De Gea – 281 points
Trippier – 267 points
Saka – 263 points
Son – 248 points

Ultimately there’s not a huge difference in the top 10. De Gea made his way into the top 10 given the extra points he would have got from a large volume of saves. Son also made an appearance ahead of Odegaard presumably because of shots on target and dribbles.

Top 10 goalscorers

Haaland – 52
Kane – 32
Rashford – 30
Salah – 29
Toney – 21
Wilson – 18
Watkins – 16
Alvarez – 16
Saka – 15
Martinelli – 15

No surprise that goalscorers link directly to those who ended up in the top scorers for the season. The one takeaway for me is the 15 goals from Martinelli, who is down as a midfielder this season and good value compared to Saka. Watkins also stands out considering he will have extra games in August.

Top 10 players who made assists

De Bruyne – 30
Salah – 15
Fernandes – 15
Mahrez – 13
Trossard – 13
Saka – 12
Grealish – 12
Alexander-Arnold – 12
Perisic – 12
Bowen – 11

De Bruyne picked up considerably more assists than anyone else on the list. Only Salah and Saka made the top 10 for goals scored and assists made. If Salah plays in the Europa League, I could see him having a big season.

Top 10 players by number of games played

Fernandes – 59
De Gea – 58
Rashford – 56
Fred – 56
Rodri – 55
Bowen – 54
Silva – 54
Haaland – 52
Benrahma – 52
Casemiro – 51

No real shocks here – a lot of Man Utd players on the list as a result of going far in a number of competitions. In most cases, game time does correlate to more points.

Top 10 players by minutes played

De Gea – 5,250
Fernandes – 5,164
Rodri – 4,387
Rashford – 4,302
Kane – 4,300
Bowen – 4,245
Alisson – 4,230
Salah – 4,208
Ederson – 4,185
Rice – 4,149

In the same way that games played correlate to points scored, minutes played has the same logic. It’s interesting to see Fernandes on another top 10 list already, he’s almost certain to get a lot of game time and a lot of points next season.

Top 10 players who kept clean sheets

De Gea – 25
Akanji – 22
Shaw – 21
Dias – 21
Martinez – 20
Ederson – 19
White – 19
Dalot – 19
Gabriel – 18
Trippier – 18

The top 10 generally consist of players from the Manchester clubs. If Man Utd have another good season defensively, their players could be a shrewd pick. They are cheaper than City defenders and less likely to be rotated.

Points per 1,000 minutes played (based on old scoring system)

Haaland – 107
Foden – 71
Wilson – 70
Rashford – 70
De Bruyne – 70
Kane – 67
Mahrez – 65
Salah – 65
Alvarez – 64
Tsimikas – 64

I find this metric to be the only fair way to compare points totals by reducing everyone to the same number of minutes. Haaland still tops the list suggesting he doesn’t need more minutes for explosive scores. Fernandes drops off the top 10 completely. The two I find most interesting are Foden and Wilson. Based on this logic, if they both get more game time next season they could score well. I think Foden is underpriced at 4.5m but we can never be certain how often he will play.

Points per 1,000 minutes played (based on new scoring system)

Haaland – 118
Nunez – 90
Wilson – 90
Ferguson – 90
Alvarez – 87
Rashford – 87
Salah – 84
Foden – 84
Kane – 82
Martial – 81

This is a similar list to the top 10 above but based on the new scoring system and player totals from last season. Interesting that Wilson pops up again. It also highlights Nunez, who I think the new scoring system will favour. He’s good value as well but there’s a lot of competition up front for Liverpool.

Shots on target

Haaland – 94
Rashford – 82
Kane – 70
Salah – 63
Fernandes – 54
Son – 53
Nunez – 52
Watkins – 48
Antony – 47
Toney – 45

The players that stand out for me are Fernandes with a lot of shots for a midfielder, Nunez who also had a lot of shots on target and may have been unlucky to not score more and Antony who also had a lot of shots on target relative to being classed as a midfielder in the game.

Big chances created

Fernandes – 48
De Bruyne – 43
Trippier – 29
Alexander-Arnold – 27
Gross – 23
Salah – 20
March – 18
Kane – 17
Perisic – 17
Odegaard – 16

Considering how many assists De Bruyne made, I’m surprised he didn’t top this list. It does however show the striking power of Man City with more of these chances being converted into goals. Fernandes didn’t have as many assists, which would suggest the opposite – that his chances weren’t converted as efficiently into goals.

Successful tackles

Casemiro – 152
Fernandes – 110
Rodri – 106
Rice – 104
Malacia – 98
Soucek – 96
Martinez – 94
Paqueta – 91
Guimaraes – 90
Joelinton – 89

Casemiro could be a good pick for next season based on this stat. I also can’t see him picking up as many red cards as he did last time around. Fernandes also pops up on another list which is really driving home how good he could be next season.

Dribbles

Rashford – 83
Saka – 80
Martinelli – 76
March – 75
Benrahma – 74
Grealish – 72
Eze – 72
Mitoma – 71
Joelinton – 64
Salah – 59

The stand out player on this list for me is Martinelli, he could be an attractive prospect at 4.5m and is now classified as a midfielder.

Crosses

Trippier – 162
Alexander-Arnold – 103
De Bruyne – 89
Olise – 66
Perisic – 66
Robertson – 66
Gross – 65
Jensen – 59
Fernandes – 58
McNeil – 52

Trippier and Alexander-Arnold stand out on this list. Trippier in particular will have more fixtures this season with the Champions League which could enhance his point total even further. Both come at a high cost though. Fernandes also sneaks onto another list.

Interceptions

Rice – 74
Casemiro – 66
Hojbjerg – 62
Soucek – 60
Joelinton – 59
Tete – 58
Mings – 56
Schar – 54
Shaw – 52
Tarkowski – 52

Another list that makes a case for Casemiro being a decent pick for the season ahead.

Highest difference between old scoring system total and new scoring system total

De Gea – 118
Antony – 97
Rice – 97
Johnson – 94
Soucek – 91
Son – 90
Ramsdale – 87
Bowen – 84
Alisson – 84
Havertz – 84

This stat is an interesting one. I’ve taken the player’s score from last season based on the new scoring system and taken away the actual score they achieved last season. The players with the biggest difference are those who will favour the new system. De Gea and Ramsdale feature due to bonus points from saves. Antony features due to a high volume of shots on target, which mildly puts him on my radar. It’s also interesting to see Havertz make this list – he looks good value as a midfielder playing for Chelsea but it would be a big gamble to pick him from the off.

Conclusion

After spending a few hours looking into these stats – full data can be found here. The conclusion that I’ve come to is that it’s helped to highlight a few bargain or underpriced players but ultimately the numbers need to be taken with a pinch of salt. For example, Mount doesn’t appear on any of these lists after a poor season with Chelsea but could get off to a flying start at Man Utd. Someone like Antony has also been highlighted for a large volume of shots on target. This could suggest he was unlucky not to score more last season or maybe his shots on target just weren’t that good. This doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to score more next season. With a new scoring system in place it’s going to be a bit of a lottery picking players for next season, I think the stats help but I don’t think we can rely on them too much.