Data shows that United are the most deadly side in front of goal the Premier League this season.
New research looking at chance conversion for each of the 20 Premier League teams this season shows just how good Newcastle have been in front of goal. United are the league’s third highest scorers after 12 rounds of fixtures with 27 goals, but it’s not just the impressive quantity of goals that Eddie Howe’s side is scoring, but how few chances they have needed to get those goals.
The Magpies have scored their 27-goal tally from just 157 shots on goal this year, meaning that they have converted a Premier League best 17.2% of their chances on goal, ahead of second place Aston Villa on 16.2% and reigning champions Man City in third on 16.16%.
Premier League Chance Conversion Table
Team
Shots
Goals
Conversion
Newcastle 157
27
17.20%
Aston Villa 179
29
16.20%
Man City 198
32
16.16%
Arsenal 174
26
14.94%
Brighton 172
25
14.53%
West Ham 145
21
14.48%
Tottenham 192
24
12.50%
Liverpool 217
27
12.44%
Chelsea 173
21
12.14%
Nottingham Forest 127
14
11.02%
Wolves 146
16
10.96%
Brentford 175
19
10.86%
Sheffield United 105
10
9.52%
Everton 167
14
8.38%
Crystal Palace 145
12
8.28%
Bournemouth 138
11
7.97%
Fulham 133
10
7.52%
Burnley 122
9
7.38%
Manchester United 178
13
7.30%
Luton 140
10
7.14%
The table shows that whilst Newcastle are finishing their dinner when they get the opportunities, they simply need to create more chances on goal. United have scored the same amount of goals (27) as Liverpool this season, in 60 shots less. It begs the question, where could Newcastle be in the league if they were creating those extra opportunities?
The signs are encouraging though, and the fix is simple for Howe’s men. Get more shots off on goal. That’s the good news – the bad news is that The Toon are going through an injury crisis, and the lack of available players and a consistent starting Xl is going to make an easy fix in theory, it’s a much more difficult fix in reality. Especially with a tough return to Premier League action this weekend, playing against a Chelsea side that are much improved from the start of the season, and proving a test for all opponents of late.
Newcastle will be without top scorer Callum Wilson, but fans will be hoping that Alexander Isak makes his return to action, to help fill the goal-scoring void left in Wilson’s absence. And it can’t be underestimated just how important Wilson has been to United this year, especially with him having the best return in the entire league for minutes per goal. Offers.Bet looked at the Premier League’s leading scorers so far this season, with the stats revealing that Wilson has scored every 69 minutes on average this season.
Conversion Table
Player
Team
Goals
Shots
Chance Conversion
Mins Played
Mins Per Goal
Wilson Newcastle
7
21
33.33%
482
69
Haaland Man City
13
46
28.26%
1024
79
Isak Newcastle
6
18
33.33%
495
83
Salah Liverpool
10
38
26.32%
1046
105
Ferguson Brighton
5
18
27.78%
581
116
Son Tottenham
8
31
25.81%
983
123
Hwang Wolves
6
18
33.33%
774
129
Bowen West Ham
8
33
24.24%
1079
135
Jackson Chelsea
6
33
18.18%
849
142
Jota Liverpool
4
22
18.18%
586
147
Not even Erling Haaland can keep up with the prolific nature of the United front-man’s scoring habits, with it taking the Norwegian an additional ten minutes per game to score. And this is where the potential return of Alexander Isak is so important, as he is the third and only other player to average better than a goal every 90minutes so far this season, of any player to have found the net four times this season.
It’s not only how quickly Wilson and Isak find the net this season but how clinical they are when through on goal. Again, looking at the players to have scored four or more times this year, Isak and Wilson have both scored 33.3% of their chances on goal, with Wolves’ Hwang Hee-chan and Nottingham Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi the only other players to match their one-in-three chance conversion rate.
With Wilson missing, so much seems to rest on the potential return of Alexander Isak for the game against Chelsea. It is a tough time for Newcastle being hampered by so many injuries and Howe knows that he just needs to ride out the storm that his side is going through. But there is positive news to look towards with Isak’s return and the knowledge that Newcastle can create chances, and that there is no better team in the league at taking those chances.
