This Week in Stats: Another deserved late Manchester City win

West Ham struggled to break down Leicester, Manchester City should’ve battered Huddersfield and where next for manager-less Everton?

After praising West Ham’s attack for their efforts at Watford in last week’s column, perhaps a downturn was inevitable. If they were consistently strong, they wouldn’t be struggling at the foot of the table.

David Moyes’ side were certainly poor against Leicester. West Ham mustered just eight shots against a side who have conceded 17 per game on the road this season. That’s the third worst record in the Premier League, yet the Hammers didn’t even register half of that.

West Ham were obviously not helped by conceding from the first shot of the game. Leicester won the league by scoring first and defending deep, and they did so against far better teams than this Irons side.

Such tactics help to explain why the Foxes concede the highest number of crosses per game (25) in the top flight. It’s very tough to go through them centrally, so teams have to get behind them via deliveries from wide areas.

The home side attempted 31 crosses on Friday night. Five of them found a teammate, so they weren’t far short of the average crossing accuracy of around 20 percent.

Those five crosses did also generate four shots, so they proved valuable. Their one clear-cut chance of the night came via a Manuel Lanzini cross too, but Angelo Ogbonna’s header was saved by Kasper Schmeichel.

West Ham did come from behind to earn a point for the first time in eight attempts this season. That’s at least something for David Moyes to build upon. But to only have four open play shots in a home match has to be a big concern for the Hammers’ manager.

Manchester City were camped in the Huddersfield half

An own goal for a team who had no shots on target, a penalty and a winner which came about via a fortunate deflection. There were certainly no shortage of talking points from Manchester City’s 2-1 win at Huddersfield.

As much as there was certainly some good fortune to Raheem Sterling’s winning goal, City had earned it. The quality of their play and domination of the contest meant they were worthy winners.

A look at the map of their touches illustrates they spent significantly more time in Huddersfield’s half than their own.

Pep Guardiola’s team generated five clear-cut chances, becoming only the third away team in 2017-18 to do so. It was also only the fourth game where the visiting team have had at least three expected goals.

Huddersfield’s strength is their defense, so it was no surprise the visitors had to work hard for their victory. Considering City attempted 731 passes, they were not particularly efficient in an attacking sense.

That matters not if you still manage to create multiple high quality opportunities, though. To put it into context, both Sergio Aguero and Sterling had a higher total of expected goals than Huddersfield did in this match.

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit to come out of this match was that it was City’s first away win when behind at halftime in the Premier League since 1995. They don’t look likely to go behind full stop, but with the quality they clearly have, it won’t be 22 years before they repeat that feat.

Next: United get lucky: 3 things we learned

Everton need a new manager, and quickly

Everton are currently drifting from heavy defeat to heavy defeat. After losing 5-1 in the Europa League on Thursday, they suffered a 4-1 defeat at Southampton.

Big wins aren’t always merited based on the underlying stats, but this one was. Everton mustered just 0.2 expected goals, becoming the seventh away team this season to post such a meager tally.

Perhaps surprisingly, Southampton became the first team to restrict visiting opponents to such few chances twice in 2017-18. The Saints have been on a fairly poor run themselves, and this was only their second win in their last six matches.

Mauricio Pellegrino couldn’t have wished for more obliging opponents. Southampton turned in their best attacking performance of the campaign, registering 2.6 expected goals. They didn’t concede any clear-cut chances or shots in the box either.

Everton’s lack of fight has to be a massive concern for their fans. Despite Southampton dominating possession to the tune of 67 percent, they made 19 tackles to the visitors’ 12.

The Toffees made just five in the second half, a period which saw the score move from 1-1 to a 4-1 defeat. It’s very hard to balance European and domestic commitments, but that shouldn’t be an excuse here. Only three Everton players started both matches this week.

So where next for a side who are sleepwalking toward relegation? The experiment with David Unsworth hasn’t worked; only Newcastle and Huddersfield have posted worse expected goals figures during his tenure. Had Tom Cleverley converted a late penalty at Goodison Park for Watford, then Everton would be win-less under their caretaker manager.

Sam Allardyce, after initially ruling himself out for the position, is now favorite to take over. Whoever Everton ultimately choose, they’ll have a tough job on their hands.