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FotMob Reaction: The story of the top four and the title, told in one massive missed chance

FotMob Reaction: The story of the top four and the title, told in one massive missed chance

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Manchester City winning the Premier League title might feel inevitable, and certainly looks as if it will now play out that way. Across the course of a season it’s very difficult to stop them earning the most points, whether by expenditure, squad depth, managerial quality, big-game experience or, as was the case on Tuesday night in a decisive win over Tottenham, goalscoring calibre of their main striker. And yet the defining moment, the defining chance, the defining miss of the title race, came at the other end of the pitch.

By Karl Matchett

Son Heung-min has carried Spurs before, has starred for Spurs in spells this season. He’s now club captain, regularly comes up with big moments when the team needs and certainly knows where the goal is. But on a night when it was all or nothing for the north London club, he yielded nothing: the South Korean missed twice as his team misfired again.

The big chances created in the game read 4-4. The big chances taken was 0-2. Erling Haaland notched a tap-in and a penalty, but minutes before the latter which wrapped up the points and, almost certainly, the Premier League trophy itself, Son spurned the one real moment which had the title on a knife-edge.

Put through on goal, one-on-one against a substitute goalkeeper who was only recently on the pitch, Son had a strange situation in front of him: score, and Spurs were level, yet arch-rivals Arsenal would be in pole position for the title instead of City – and his own club would not yet be where they needed to be in the chase for the Champions League. Only a win was good enough for Tottenham on the night and they never really came close to that.

Son’s earlier chance registered an xG of 0.44 just minutes into the second half; this latter was just as presentable – 0.49 – and far more important, with only a few minutes left on the clock. Add in goalkeeper saves against Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski and Spurs’ struggles to create regular, decent openings only yielded frustration and heads-in-hands moments when they did sneak behind City’s backline.

And yet in Son, Spurs are possessed of one of the league’s finest when it comes to finishing. Only a handful of players have hit more shots on target than him this term. Counting those who have reached double figures for the league season, only one player outperforms Son when it comes to scoring more than he should: in other words his xG difference, his actual (17) less his expected (12.0), giving him a fairly monstrous outperformance of 5 goals. For context, the guy at the other end who scored twice on the night and has 27 for the season is still underperforming his season xG by nearly two goals.

But Son’s touch and finish deserted him when it mattered, when the title teetered between north London and the north west.

Stefan Ortega, of course, deserves enormous credit. His save was exemplary both then and again from Kulusevski. He kept his side ahead, on the night and in the title race. He could well be between the sticks for the two trophy matches now, the decider against West Ham and the FA Cup final against Manchester United, depending on the exact nature of Ederson’s injury.

Meanwhile it’s now five defeats in six for Tottenham, the worst kind of form to end a campaign on when prizes are there for the taking, yet with familiar failings throughout that run. Ange Postecoglou has certainly taken them on strides this term, yet there are greater ones to take if he wants Spurs to be a serious contender for any kind of trophy and for the top four – which will likely be all the more difficult to attain next season.

Spurs remain an erratic side across the year, with some outstanding players but too many disappointing moments. The only real surprise on this occasion was that one of the former produced one of the latter, and left Aston Villa celebrating a return to the Champions League and the title in Man City’s hands.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Champions League game with xG, deep stats, and players ratings, on FotMob this season. Download the free app here.

FotMob Reaction: The story of the top four and the title, told in one massive missed chance

Manchester City winning the Premier League title might feel inevitable, and certainly looks as if it will now play out that way. Across the course of a season it’s very difficult to stop them earning the most points, whether by expenditure, squad depth, managerial quality, big-game experience or, as was the case on Tuesday night in a decisive win over Tottenham, goalscoring calibre of their main striker. And yet the defining moment, the defining chance, the defining miss of the title race, came at the other end of the pitch.

By Karl Matchett

Son Heung-min has carried Spurs before, has starred for Spurs in spells this season. He’s now club captain, regularly comes up with big moments when the team needs and certainly knows where the goal is. But on a night when it was all or nothing for the north London club, he yielded nothing: the South Korean missed twice as his team misfired again.

The big chances created in the game read 4-4. The big chances taken was 0-2. Erling Haaland notched a tap-in and a penalty, but minutes before the latter which wrapped up the points and, almost certainly, the Premier League trophy itself, Son spurned the one real moment which had the title on a knife-edge.

Put through on goal, one-on-one against a substitute goalkeeper who was only recently on the pitch, Son had a strange situation in front of him: score, and Spurs were level, yet arch-rivals Arsenal would be in pole position for the title instead of City – and his own club would not yet be where they needed to be in the chase for the Champions League. Only a win was good enough for Tottenham on the night and they never really came close to that.

Son’s earlier chance registered an xG of 0.44 just minutes into the second half; this latter was just as presentable – 0.49 – and far more important, with only a few minutes left on the clock. Add in goalkeeper saves against Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski and Spurs’ struggles to create regular, decent openings only yielded frustration and heads-in-hands moments when they did sneak behind City’s backline.

And yet in Son, Spurs are possessed of one of the league’s finest when it comes to finishing. Only a handful of players have hit more shots on target than him this term. Counting those who have reached double figures for the league season, only one player outperforms Son when it comes to scoring more than he should: in other words his xG difference, his actual (17) less his expected (12.0), giving him a fairly monstrous outperformance of 5 goals. For context, the guy at the other end who scored twice on the night and has 27 for the season is still underperforming his season xG by nearly two goals.

But Son’s touch and finish deserted him when it mattered, when the title teetered between north London and the north west.

Stefan Ortega, of course, deserves enormous credit. His save was exemplary both then and again from Kulusevski. He kept his side ahead, on the night and in the title race. He could well be between the sticks for the two trophy matches now, the decider against West Ham and the FA Cup final against Manchester United, depending on the exact nature of Ederson’s injury.

Meanwhile it’s now five defeats in six for Tottenham, the worst kind of form to end a campaign on when prizes are there for the taking, yet with familiar failings throughout that run. Ange Postecoglou has certainly taken them on strides this term, yet there are greater ones to take if he wants Spurs to be a serious contender for any kind of trophy and for the top four – which will likely be all the more difficult to attain next season.

Spurs remain an erratic side across the year, with some outstanding players but too many disappointing moments. The only real surprise on this occasion was that one of the former produced one of the latter, and left Aston Villa celebrating a return to the Champions League and the title in Man City’s hands.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Champions League game with xG, deep stats, and players ratings, on FotMob this season. Download the free app here.