Liverpool set record Premier League xG figure that has only been beaten three times in Europe
Liverpool were dominant in their victory over Newcastle United in the Premier League, earning a 4-2 win to extend their lead at the top of the table.
Jurgen Klopp's side had the lions share of the possession and managed an incredible 34 shots to Newcastle's five, figures that show the reality of their supremacy at Anfield. But their expected goals figure for the night of 7.53 when compared to Newcastle's 0.53 was extremely telling as well as record breaking.
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Hide AdAccording to the Expected Goals philosophy, Liverpool just broke the record for the most xG created in a Premier League game. There were chances galore and the likes of Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah were at the centre of those attacks, with Salah earning a personal record of 2.74 xG.
Whereas Nunez frustrated in front of goal, despite registering an assist, with an xG figure of 1.61 without finding the back of the net from his eight attempts in his 64 minutes on the pitch. That figure was far beyond his early-season figure of 1.14 which he managed in the 3-1 win against Aston Villa.
However, the most incredible statistic comes from in terms of the biggest xG difference between two sides. As per Andrew Beasley, only three games in the history of the FiveThirtyEight database which have bettered Liverpool's efforts. Their 6.68 xG difference was bettered only by Barcelona's 4-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna in 2017 (6.73) Manchester City's 8-0 win over Watford in 2019 (6.79) and Ajax's stunning 13-0 win over VVV Venlo in 2020 (8.04) showing that this Liverpool attacking display is held in the highest regard statistically. That performance was made all the more better by the fact that 25% of Man Utd’s season-long xG total was generated by Klopp's side last night.
Furthermore, Liverpool became the only team over the last seven Premier League campaigns to attempt 34+ shots in a single match. They managed 36 against Manchester United in 2018, 35 against Burnley in 2017 and 34 against Manchester United recently during their frustrating 0-0 draw in December.
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Hide AdKlopp spoke on the two players who were responsible for creating most of their xG figures last night, defending Nunez despite his inability to find the net: "Don't doubt Núñez, it's all fine. Darwin will score and there is no doubt about it, look at his assist... wow. He gets questioned on social media and that disturbs slightly. Salah? Mo is a goal scoring machine. He will never stop doing these things. He is special".
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