Premier League history was made by Leicester City this afternoon (24 February), but not the kind they’d be especially proud of.
The Foxes registered just one shot all game against Arsenal, as the away side ran out 1-0 winners at the Kingpower Stadium to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
However, in the moments after the game, it was revealed that Leicester’s dismal attacking output saw the club create what could be the lowest XG – or ‘expected goals’ – figure in Premier League history.
According to Twitter account @xGPhilosophy, who reveal the XG of every Premier League match, Brendan Rodgers’ men created just 0.01 XG – the ‘lowest XG in a Premier League match since we began this account’. Oft.
It’s been a brutal campaign for the East Midlands side, who currently sit 14th in the Premier League table, now just three points above the relegation zone.
Arsenal were hardly prolific in front of goal either, getting a total of just two shots on target. Thankfully for the Gunners, one of those ended up in the Leicester City net, with Gabriel Martinelli grabbing the all-important winning goal.
Fans of the North London club flooded the replied to @xGPhilosophy’s tweet, hyping up the contributions of defenders Gabriel and William Saliba – who virtually shut out the opposition attackers.
Others couldn’t help jibing at rivals Spurs, with one antagonistic user replying: “The same team put FOUR past Tottenham.”
Another Arsenal fan added: “We controlled them from first minute to last”, with a third saying simply “Gabriel x Saliba effect”.
The previous lowest XG by a Premier League team before Leicester was thought to have came from Spurs back in 2021 – who recorded 0.07 in a 3-0 away loss to Crystal Palace. Arsenal fans may be somewhat disappointed that their bitter rivals no longer hold that accolade.
The process of working out a side’s XG total comes down to several factors.
As Goal explains, this includes the “type of assist, whether it was a shot taken with the head or foot, the angle and distance of the shot, and whether it was a big chance.
“If you see that [a] chance is described as having an xG rating of 0.35 that means a player would be expected to score from the chance 35 per cent of the time – a one in three chance. If a chance is described as 0.5xG it should be scored 50% of the time and so on.”
So, this helps explain why Leicester’s was so worryingly low against Arsenal, as the only attempt they had at goal was a 40-yard speculative shot from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
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