In Liam Kelly's latest weekly column, he focuses on West Ham's attacking woes, Romelu Lukaku's touches, City-Spurs and Jadon Sancho's silky showing.
The aim of this weekly column is to provide standout stats from each round of fixtures, to use underlying numbers to identify recent trends, and to inform punters with tools to improve their betting on the Premier League.
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West Ham's woes
I’m not sure what was more frustrating on Saturday afternoon, the distinct lack of quality on show at the London Stadium or BT Sport’s commentators trying to convince viewers that West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle was an entertaining game.
It was not.
That is becoming the norm in matches involving the Hammers, who have averaged just 0.81 expected goals for (xGF) per game across their last four Premier League fixtures. Worryingly, the most recent opponents have been Watford, Leicester and Newcastle, teams with notoriously dire defences this term.
Perhaps more concerning is the fact that West Ham's four goals in those games have come from two excellent finishes from Jarrod Bowen and two set-piece goals courtesy of Craig Dawson.
If we include West Ham's poor performance against Kidderminster in the FA Cup fourth round earlier this month, David Moyes' side have flattered to deceive for a good period of time now.
The Hammers' top-four hopes are dwindling with every uninspired outing in attack.
Romelu Lukaku's touches
One of the standout stats of the weekend may well have been the seven 'touches' taken by Romelu Lukaku in Chelsea's 1-0 win at Crystal Palace — the lowest total ever recorded for a Premier League outfielder who played 90-plus minutes.
Admittedly, the easier route to take is to make fun of such a purposefully pulled stat, but when watching the Belgian's actions, albeit a small number of them, the vast majority added value to his team.
Lukaku's passing improved Chelsea's non-shot expected goals figures, progressing the ball well the few times he did see it. He was simply not involved enough.
The blame game may well be played on behalf of both sides, but the working relationship between Thomas Tuchel and Lukaku hasn't brought out the best in either Chelsea or the striker this season.
How much longer can that go on?
Quality over quantity
We all know that all shots aren't created equal, right? At this point, I hope so.
If not, Tottenham's exhilarating 3-2 win at Manchester City this weekend (xG: MCI 2.62 - 1.93 TOT), which reinvigorated the Premier League title race, is another good example of the value of xG as a metric, with the visitors taking 15 shots fewer than Pep Guardiola's side.
Spurs had just six attempts on goal at the Etihad, averaging 0.32 xG per shot against possibly the best defence in world football — a near-perfect counter-attacking display.
Although it was concerning that City were beaten by the very thing you would expect Antonio Conte's side to do in this match-up, confidence in Saturday's hosts to bounce back immediately should remain strong.
Essentially, Tottenham appear to just be super City's kryptonite.
Jadon Sancho's super Sunday
Super Sunday started in spectacular fashion, with the 'War of the Roses' providing incredible entertainment in treacherous conditions at Elland Road.
Undoubtedly, Manchester United deserved the three points, eventually running out 4-2 winners after a (very) brief scare just after the break (xG: LEE 1.35 - 2.08 MUN).
The catalyst behind the away side's victory was perhaps the performance of summer signing Jadon Sancho, fulfilling his irrefutable potential in recent weeks after an understandably reserved beginning to his United career.
Sancho ended the game against Leeds with two assists from 0.70 expected assists (xA), made 21 passes into the attacking third, recorded five shot-creating actions and had more touches in the opposition box than any other player (8).
Ralf Rangnick is starting to get a tune out of United's superstars, and Sancho is absolutely one of them.