This Week in Stats: Manchester City passed Chelsea off the park

Manchester City set a new passing record, Liverpool needed to be clinical to beat Newcastle, while Burnley and Everton played out a game of two halves.

The writer and tactical expert Jonathan Wilson once penned an article in which he mused on whether it was possible to quantify who had won the tactical battle in a soccer match.

Wilson wrote, “Imagine a match in which Team A would be expected to create 20 chances and Team B 10. If Team B’s manager can shift that to, say, 14-8, he has done a good job, whether or not his side wins the game or not.”

Few who watched Manchester City’s match with Chelsea would think Antonio Conte had done a good job. The home side were able to pass the ball around at will, with little or no effort made by Chelsea to engage with them.

By full time, City had completed an incredible 902 passes, the most in a Premier League game since records began. Despite Pep Guardiola’s team attempting 976 passes, Chelsea made just 11 tackles.

That’s one tackle for every 89 passes, against a Premier League-wide average this season of 29. Conte’s team took playing passively to new levels. The Blues didn’t have a single shot in the first half, and only three in total.

And yet, City created very little of note themselves. They have averaged 4.2 clear-cut chances per home match in 2017-18 but only had one on Sunday. Their expected goals tally of 1.1 was also their lowest at the Etihad Stadium this season, and their second lowest overall.

Do Chelsea therefore deserve some credit by Wilson’s measure? Arguably they do, though it wasn’t pretty to watch. It’s one thing for Newcastle to play that way against City, but Chelsea are the reigning champions.

It was also odd for Conte to wait over half an hour after going behind to bring on a striker. Giving yourself just 12 minutes to rescue a point against City was always likely to be a fruitless endeavor, and so it proved.

With Chelsea now all but out of the running for a top four finish, it was a peculiar performance from them all round, but not an entirely uneffective one.

Liverpool had to be clinical to see off Newcastle

Liverpool are a strange team. Even after dispatching Newcastle 2-0, the Reds have won more matches by five-or-more goals than they have by two in 2017-18. Jurgen Klopp’s team has frequently been scintillating this season, but it hasn’t had to grind out many wins. This was one of those occasions when it did.

A lot of credit has to go to Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle. It was similar to another match where a team in black-and-white did well at Anfield. West Bromwich Albion stifled Liverpool in a 0-0 draw in December, and the expected goal figures for that match and this one were just 0.1 apart.

The Reds also had the same number of shots and shots on target in both matches, but there was one key difference: finishing. Liverpool had three clear-cut chances against the Baggies but missed them all. They had two against Newcastle and converted both.

Once the game reached 2-0, Benitez was probably glad to head home without being thrashed. He was the master of games like this during his time as Liverpool manager. The Spaniard oversaw more 2-0 Liverpool wins at Anfield than any other Reds manager has in the Premier League era. The match ended as a contest when Sadio Mane scored, and there was very little goalmouth action thereafter.

The only incident of real note in the final half hour of the match was referee Graham Scott’s failure to penalize Jamaal Lascelles for a clear foul on Mohamed Salah. As the Egyptian international was clean through and approaching the penalty area, the Newcastle defender should’ve been sent off. It may not have affected the outcome of the match, but the sooner video assistant referees are implemented, the better.

Next: Son shows his worth once more in Tottenham win

Burnley and Everton had a game of two halves

Everton’s record on the road in 2017-18 has been abysmal. Ahead of their trip to Turf Moor, the Toffees had won just one away league match, and lost their last four.

The fact they lost to Burnley wasn’t therefore too surprising, though the Clarets have been in poor form themselves. Yet Everton should actually have been out of sight at halftime.

Sam Allardyce’s team had four clear-cut chances in the opening 45 minutes; for context, only one match a week on average sees the away team have that many across a whole game. This was the first time in 2017-18 Everton had so many on the road, and Big Sam might be cursing one player in particular: Theo Walcott.

The former Gunner proved to be anything but a gunner, as he had three clear-cut chances and missed them all. That said, perhaps Clarets’ goalkeeper Nick Pope deserves credit, as he saved Walcott’s two on-target efforts.

Cenk Tosun converted his golden opportunity to get his first Everton goal, but the visitors should’ve been further ahead at the break. What made the match unusual was Burnley then having four clear-cut chances of their own in the second half.

The Clarets were more clinical and converted two big chances, to claim three points for the first time since mid-December. However, some appalling Everton defending certainly helped Sean Dyche’s team to fashion their golden opportunities.

All that was left was for a clash of Ashleys: Williams elbowed Barnes, and was rightly shown a red card. Few teams have imploded as well or as often as Everton when playing away from home this season. This was just another example of that sorry trend