da apostebet： This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
da bet7： Aston Villa’s run of three Premier League matches without defeat came to a probable end at the weekend as reigning champions Manchester City eased to victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Dean Smith’s men went into the break with honours even, but within 20 seconds of the second half, Raheem Sterling handed the home side the lead before David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan rounded off a 3-0 victory.
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Though, City did finish the match with ten men as Fernandinho received a second yellow card with less than three minutes remaining.
Villa slipped down to 15th, but do have a three-point cushion from the relegation zone – but their afternoon could have been much worse.
If anything, Pep Guardiola’s side deserved more from the game, considering they registered a total of 26 shots and 63% possession.
And if that doesn’t tell you the scoreline was in favour of Villa, then it could quite easily have been at least 5-0, had City’s attackers made the most of Bjorn Engels’ errors at the back.
Per SofaScore, the summer signing failed to register a single tackle, won just one of his aerial duels, and lost possession eight times. It was a rare bad day at the office for the Belgian – or was it?
Understat’s xG model suggests that Villa should be third-last for goals conceded if teams had converted more chances against them, and given that the 25-year-old has featured in every game, he’s been part of the problem.
Aston Villa’s summer signings’ performances so far this season are rated in the video below…
Villa have leaked three goals against the three elite opposition they’ve faced this season, with Liverpool to come too – the opening day against Tottenham, against a ten-man Arsenal and last Saturday.
This suggests that Smith’s signings at the back, most namely Engels, have failed to struggle with the quality on offer in the Premier League, which is why he’s probably playing at Villa Park each week and not for his dream club (L’Equipe via the Daily Mirror), the Gunners, who could probably do with him themselves.