Expected Goals is widely agreed to be the best way of measuring how well Premier League clubs play in any particular game.
To get a better look at how sides are doing, the Expected Goals (xG) metric allows you to get a better picture of just how teams are performing.
Expected goals (xG) is a statistic used to work out how many goals should be scored in a match.
With every single shot awarded an xG value based on the difficulty of the attempt, with factors including distance from goal, type of shot and number of defenders present affecting the value.
The higher the xG of a particular shot, the more likely a goal should be scored from that shot.
The xG value of every shot in a game is then used to calculate the expected goals in a particular match.
So rather than just the usual basic statistics of how many shots each team has, Expected Goals factors in where shots were taken from and how good a chance was and whether defenders in the way etc.
These Expected Goals stats (via Understat) from Newcastle 3 West Ham 1:
Newcastle United 2.13 West Ham United 0.96
As you can see, Newcastle’s Expected Goals stat more than double that of West Ham.
Eddie Howe’s side clearly the better and more dominant side.
Newcastle also having more and better clear scoring opportunities.
West Ham did carry a threat as their Expected Goals stat suggests, but whilst the Hammers probably deserved a consolation goal, Newcastle fully deserved three goals or more.
As usual on Sunday, there was no lack of effort from the Newcastle United players.
The Newcastle players ran a total of 120.43km, whilst it was 114.62km for the West Ham players. The failings this season have tended to be down to a lack of inspiration and not perspiration. Lack of effort hasn’t been at fault.