A review of some key stats from last 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. 

Top 10 point scorers

Kane – 357
Fernandes – 323 
Salah  – 265
Rashford – 257
Cancelo – 242
Foden – 229
Son – 225
Mane – 224
De Bruyne – 209
Calvert-Lewin – 204

This one is fairly straightforward so I won’t go into detail. Obviously points scored pretty much trumps everything else – all that really matters is how many points a player can get for you over the course of a season. There are no real surprises on this list with all of the players coming from teams we would expect to see near the top of the table, with the exception of Everton and obviously Spurs didn’t have the best of season’s but they are usually up there. It’s worth noting how many strikers are on this list as well though and only one defender. Kane and Fernandes are miles ahead of the pack and I’m not sure I see that being much different this season, they could both be essential. I’d also expect a bigger season ahead from De Bruyne if he can avoid injury. It’s also interesting to see a player on the list time and time again that I always overlook – Son. He makes the list every year yet I never pick him. For 5m he could be certain of another 200 points this year.

Top 10 goalscorers

Kane – 31
Salah – 31
Fernandes – 28
Rashford – 21
Son – 21
Calvert-Lewin – 21
Iheanacho – 19
Gundogan – 17
Bamford – 17
Vardy – 17

What instantly strikes me about this list is that Kane and Salah scored the same number of goals yet Kane scored a lot more points overall. This is down to two reasons for me, Kane chipped in with more assists than Salah but he also picked up a lot more star man awards. I think Kane has less competition at Spurs for the star man award which is worth keeping in mind for the season ahead. No surprise to see Fernandes third on the list given his overall points total but 28 goals from midfield is remarkable, another reason he could be essential next season. Another one that stands out to me is Iheanacho, he played nearly half as many minutes as Salah but scored only 12 goals less. Could be one to keep an eye on next season for sure. Great value at 4m as well. It’s also interesting that there’s no place for big names such as Sterling, Werner, Jesus and Aubameyang.

Top 10 players who made assists 

Fernandes – 19
De Bruyne – 18
Kane – 17
Son – 15
Werner – 15
Rashford – 14
Vardy – 12
Sterling – 12
Grealish – 12
Mane – 11

No surprise to see Fernandes top given his total point score. If you combine this with his goals, it’s a fantastic return over the season. The list is also mainly made up of strikers and not a single defender makes the top 10 this time. Kane and Son obviously benefited from a great partnership over the season with a good number of goals and assists between them. This could continue into next season.

Top 10 players by number of games played

Fernandes – 58
Rashford – 57
Mount – 54
Wan-Bissaka – 54 
Rodri – 52
Werner – 52
Greenwood – 52
Maguire – 52
Tielemans – 51
Foden – 50

I always find this an interesting stat to look at as there’s nothing more frustrating than your main players being benched. As we would expect the players who went deeper into the European competitions come out on top and again it’s no surprise to see Fernandes topping the list – more games obviously gave him more opportunity to rack up the points that he did. Surprisingly Kane doesn’t make the list despite being the highest point scorer, which shows how dangerous he is, given that he didn’t need as many games to total as many points as he did. I think the list also highlights Wan-Bissaka, he played a lot of games, picked up the most points from the Man Utd back line but is cheaper than both Shaw and Maguire. He’s standing out for me as an obvious pick. I was also surprised to see Greenwood on the list, however, I think most of his appearances would have been as a sub. Looking at minutes played below will clear this up.

Top 10 players by minutes played

Wan-Bissaka – 4707
Maguire – 4653
Fernandes – 4581
Tielemans – 4438
Leno – 4430
Dias – 4332
Ederson – 4320
Schmeichel – 4320
Lloris – 4298
Mount – 4250

For me, minutes played is far more important than the number of appearances. The longer a player is on the pitch the more chance they have of picking up points in my opinion. Wan-Bissaka comes out on top and highlights himself again as a good pick for next season. As we would suspect, only three of the players on the list are midfielders or strikers – as they are rotated more often. What’s also interesting is that Dias had more minutes than Ederson, there was a time when most thought Ederson was the only certainty in the City backline. Dias could well be a good option for the season ahead.

Top 10 players who kept clean sheets

Dias – 27
Ederson – 26 
Mendy – 25
Azpilicueta – 24 
Cancelo – 24
James – 23
Chilwell – 22
Rudiger – 22
Stones – 21
Wan-Bissaka – 21

Other than Wan-Bissaka, this list is dominated by Chelsea and Man City players, which shows how strong both were defensively during the season. It certainly strengthens the case for a block defense for those who are brave enough to put all their eggs in one basket. 

Top 10 players who picked up the star man award

Kane – 15
Fernandes – 10 
Mane – 10
Foden – 9 
De Bruyne – 9 
Pepe – 8
Cancelo – 6 
Pope – 6
Rashford – 6 
Soucek – 6

This stat helps us understand how players like Mane and Pepe managed to pick up decent points – without featuring in the top 10 goalscorers. No shock that Kane and Fernandes top the list given they were the highest point scorers over the season. I was surprised to see Pepe, Pope and Soucek on the list though but it does illustrate nicely that players who have little competition for the star man award within their club can often pick up a decent amount of points from this. 

Top 10 players by average rating

Kane – 7.7
De Bruyne – 7.6 
Grealish – 7.6
Fernandes – 7.4
Foden – 7.3
Cancelo – 7.3
Soucek – 7.3
Mahrez – 7.3
Son – 7.3
Mane – 7.3

The big surprise on this list is seeing Grealish come in third place for his average rating, yet he only managed just over 100 points across the season. He did score and assist less than the midfielders around him on the list so that might explain this. The rest of the list is fairly as expected. 

Top 10 players by difference in end value compared to new value (underpriced players)

Justin – dropped by 1.8m
Laporte – dropped by 1.7m
Willock – dropped by 1.6m
Traore – dropped by 1.2m
Pepe – dropped by 1.1m
Raphinha – dropped by 1.1m
Zinchenko – dropped by 0.9m
Mahrez – dropped by 0.8m
Ings – dropped by 0.8m
Antonio – dropped by 0.8m

We’ve got to take these figures with a pinch of salt as I won’t be interested in players such as Willock and Raphinha despite the value drop. However, it does help us spot a bargain. What the figure shows is the difference between the value the played finished on last season and their new value. This could potentially suggest they are underpriced. I think this is particularly interesting in the case of Justin and Laporte. If both are starters and feature more in the season ahead I’d say they both stand out as being massively underpriced. 

Top 10 players by points per million spent compared to points scored last season

Justin – 64
Willock – 57
Wan-Bissaka – 53
Zouma – 52
Abraham – 52 
Rashford – 51
Kane – 51
Fernandes – 50
Moura – 49
Cancelo – 48

This is another good indication when looking for a bargain player. It basically shows how many points each player would achieve per 1 million spent based on last season’s points total. As an example, Justin is worth 2m this year but scored 128 points last season. As a result, his points per million is 64. For me, this again highlights Wan-Bissaka but it also makes Kane and Fernandes jump out as essential. Moura is an interesting one, he always pulls in over 100 points but is always mega cheap so he could be a good enabler. 

Points per 1,000 minutes played

Kane – 92
Abraham – 84
Iheanacho – 76
Cancelo – 73 
Fernandes – 71
De Bruyne – 69
Foden – 68
Cavani – 67
Pepe – 65
Salah – 65

The final stat that I look at is points per 1,000 minutes played. This helps to level the playing field based on game time, as this is often the variable that skews the numbers. This is basically a list of who would be the top point scorers if they all had the same game time. Really interesting as Kane still tops the list, by a long way. Showing how explosive he can potentially be with less minutes. Fernandes drops down slightly but players like Iheanacho and Cavani come to our attention as they didn’t really get the game time that other did, but could well be up there as decent point scorers if they get more minutes in the season ahead. I’ve certainly got my eye on Cavani with Man Utd’s fixtures at the start of the season and a price tag of only 4m

That wraps up my extensive statistical research for pre season. If you did want to check out the full list and sort it as you wish. You can do so by using the link below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OF2baG0Zeivwf4FKElkP6TjLFBfIbMKwweabBnuXAWE/