This Week in Stats: Manchester City’s season vs. recent champions

Manchester City have won the Premier League in style. How impressive have their stats been, and how do Pep Guardiola’s side compare to other champions?

Manchester City sealed their fifth English top flight title thanks to West Brom’s 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. When Pep Guardiola’s team threw away a 2-0 lead against United last week, it looked like it would take a while for them to seal the title.

As it was, the Baggies’ win ensured City equaled United’s record for the earliest championship win in the Premier League era, as they wrapped it up with five games to go.

In truth the title race has been over for a very long time, as setting a new record of 18 wins in a row undoubtedly assured the Sky Blues’ triumph. It has been a question of when, not if, City would win the league for quite some time.

But do their underlying statistics reflect City’s apparent dominance this season? On the whole, they do. The Citizens might not have either of the division’s top two scorers, but they have the third and joint-fourth highest, plus the top three assist providers.

The champions have had the most shots, shots on target, attempts from inside the box and clear-cut chances. Guardiola’s side also dominate the ball to absurd levels.

City’s possession average of 65.9 percent is way ahead of Arsenal, in second, with 58.9 percent. They have completed over 600 final third passes more than any other side, and a stunning 83 percent of the total attacking third passes in their matches have been completed by City.

That’s because their opponents only average 32 completed passes in their defensive third per game. It’s hard to create many chances when you don’t have the ball in the attacking third, and that is reflected in the champions’ defensive stats.

City’s defense is even stronger than their attack

Manchester City may have only conceded one goal fewer than their fierce rivals from across town, but on the underlying numbers they have been vastly superior.

City have allowed their opponents fewer shots than any other side has in 2017-18, and that applies across the board; however you want to break down the shot numbers, be it by total, distance or accuracy, Guardiola’s side are top. Perhaps the most impressive statistic is shots on target; Ederson has only faced 75, 18 fewer than anyone else.

There have been 27 occasions this season where a side has failed to have a shot on target, and City were the defending side for six of them. No other team has done this more than three times, as it’s not easy to achieve.

In total City, have trailed for just 155 minutes this season. That’s the fewest of any Premier League side in the last 21 seasons. However, with the title won they may ease off now, and lose this record. With a World Cup to come, who could blame their players if they did?

One defensive area where they haven’t excelled is Opta-defined errors. Half of the division have made fewer on-the-ball mistakes which lead to shots, which initially seems surprising.

But teams who play out from the back often make more gaffes. You can’t take risks without any consequences. The fact West Brom are top of the table for fewest errors proves the stat is certainly not everything.

Five of the 16 errors City made occurred in their 4-3 defeat at Anfield. Liverpool have shown how to get at the champions, so it will be interesting to see who follows their lead next term.

Next: The things we talk about when we talk about Manchester City

How do City compare to past champions?

It’s never enough to achieve anything; you always have to be matched against those who have gone before. On a very basic level, it looks highly likely City will set a points record for the modern era.

But we can also compare their underlying statistics too (albeit without going quite so far back). There is a fabulous website for Premier League stats called Objective Football. It contains sortable tables of data from every campaign since 2009-10.

The only team who could possibly argue to have been superior in that time is Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea champions. They averaged more shots in total and on target than City, but Guardiola’s side have the advantage on those stats in defense.

The Citizens have the edge on the shots and shots on target ratios, which are perhaps the best measures of dominance. It’s clear their overall performances have been very similar, though you don’t hear the 2009-10 Chelsea side described as potentially one of the best ever, as you do with City.

However, style of soccer rightly counts for a lot in such debates, and Manchester City have been sublime throughout this season. Their statistics have been just as impressive, and Guardiola can be rightly proud of everything they have achieved in 2017/18.