Written by Matt Stevenson
Here is the xG from the A Villa game, which was a poor game. A Villa looked to be happy to take their time from midway through the first half, but had the first chance of the match (rated 1 in 10) when Ramsey shot wide of the goal in the 13th minute.
Man of the match against Aston Villa
Zabarnyi
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Huijsen
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Kerkez
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Kepa
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Someone else
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AFCB were only having minor chances, with A Villa displaying a masterclass in defending. In the 42nd minute, Asensio hit the post from a difficult position (1 in 14) before they got chances in injury time. This was 6 minutes long due to the injury to Scott by Mings, widely discussed elsewhere, but we’ll never know if he looked at Scott to help protect the ball, or to get better accuracy on the elbow. There was a double chance with Kamara having a free header (1 in 3) which Kepa saved well and then saved the follow-up from Cash. 5 minutes into added on time, Semenyo tried nutmegging Digne on the touch line, it didn’t work, the ball fell to Rogers, who whipped in a cross that Watkins deftly touched home (36%). At the break, the xG at was AFCB 0.08 A Villa 0.94.
In the first minute of the second half, Kamara shot wide (1 in 16), which turned out to be A Villa’s last attempt in the game as they sat back and soaked up any AFCB attacking intent. In the 79th minute, the xG was AFCB 0.08 A Villa 0.98, showing how sterile the second half was. Then there was the send-off of Ramsey for two yellow cards, with the second being very soft. The main advantage did at least allow AFCB to push forward, with Evanilson having a header saved by Martinez (1 in 14) and then in the final minute Semenyo shot from a tight angle that was well saved (1 in 12) and with the ball looping up, it looked like Jebbison would nod it in but Cash came back to put him off (46%) The final xG was AFCB 0.80 A Villa 0.98, with Understat having it slightly closer at AFCB 1.02 A Villa 1.12, but the last chance hid how toothless AFCB had been, although this was due to good defensive play by A Villa.
There were 3 changes to the team that beat Arsenal. Semenyo (24) came back to replace the injured Ouattara, Smith (15) replaced Araujo at right back, and Scott (8) replaced Kluivert, presumably to have some explosive option from the bench. Cook (4) and Adams (12) started in midfield, with Cook further advanced, although this doesn’t seem his natural position. Tavernier (16) played mainly on the right, although swapped flanks with Semeny,o meaning the average positions are more central. The first sub came at half time with Kluivert (19) replacing Scott (8), who had fractured his jaw in the Mings incident. After 70 minutes, Brooks (7) replaced Smith (15) with Cook moving to right-back. In the 76th minute, Senesi (5) replaced Adams (12) and we may have moved to 3 at the back with Zabarnyi (27) on the right and Huijsen (2) in the middle. The last role of the dice was in the 88th minute, with Araujo (22) replacing Zabarnyi and Jebbison (21) replacing Kerkez (3), who appeared to have a knock when shooting. I was losing track of positions at this point, as things became chaotic.
Huijsen had the most touches with 108. Tavernier had the most touches in the opposition half (56) and in the final third with 45.
Huijsen attempted 90 passes and attempted most in the opposition half with 41. Tavernier attempted most passes in the final third with 31. We averaged 87% pass completion with Evanilson, Kepa, Scott and Zabarnyi of the starting 11, having a 90% or over success rate.
AFCB players tried to take on a man 14 times, being successful 9 times (Semenyo was successful 3 times from 6 attempts).
AFCB players were tackled 13 times, with Semenyo being tackled 4 times.
AFCB attempted 31 crosses, being successful 5 times (Kerkez was successful twice from 7 times).
AFCB had 27 touches in A Villa’s penalty area, with Kluivert having 7 (coming on at the break). A Villa had 15 touches in our penalty area.
AFCB created 10 chances (2 big). A Villa created 6 chances, 2 big. Brooks created 2 chances with the big chance set up by Tavernier.
We had 10 attempts (2 big), noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target 4 times. A Villa had 6 attempts, 2 big and hit the target 3 times. Evanilson and Semenyo had 2 chances, with the big chances falling to Jebbison and Semenyo.
The Opta expected goals had Jebbison as most likely to score (0.46) followed by Semenyo (0.13). For expected assists, Brooks was top at 0.14 followed by Scott with 0.11.
AFCB won 9 of 22 aerial duals. Kerkez won 2 out of 3.
AFCB won 16 of 19 tackles. Huijsen won 3 from 3, Kerkez 2 from 2, and Adams 3 from 4.
Huijsen made the most defensive actions with 16. Kerkez made the most interceptions (2), and Kepa made the most recoveries (10). Huijsen and Zabarnyi made the most clearances (10), and no players made any blocks.
The foul count was AFCB 19, A Villa 12. Scott made 4 fouls, and Evanilson was fouled 5 times.
According to Opta, Semenyo made an error leading to a goal.
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