Data Analysis: Looking at Watford’s goal drought since Villa | OneFootball

Watford had an impressive start to the season to the season with a 3-2 victory in the opening weekend of the English Premier League. Since then the Hornets have struggled in front of the goal, with three games without a goal and a single point.

What could be the reason behind Watford struggle in the three games? Let us take a look at some of the statistics to know more about their season.

The above viz shows the stats of Watford in their first match of the season. The Hornets attempted 12 shots in this match and 50% of these shots were on target. Most of the shots attempted were from inside the opposition box, which can cause more trouble to the opposition. When we look at their attacks in these games, the count is high on the counterattack side. This means that the team relies on their pace and counter-attacking play. The expected goal rate is around 1.24 for Watford in the match.

This viz shows the expected goal rate of every team. Watford lies deep into 20th position in the league when we look at the XG. If we remove the XG from first match then we get the XG of other three games and that is only 1.67. The overall average is 0.68 and the average in the last three matches is 0.56. Teams like Arsenal, Norwich and Wolves have scored lesser goals are ranked higher than the Hornets.

The main reason why the expected goal rate is less is due to the number of shots attempted by Watford on goal. We can see that the team has nine shots on target in the four matches. Six out of the nine shots were attempted in the first match and the team only averages one shot on target after that match. This has been an issue with the Hornets this season. Their struggles have mostly been in front of the goal. The team has attempted 34 shots this season and 12 were in the first match. The average in the other three matches is just above seven and is ranked very low in this department in the league.

The Hornets average one counterattack per game in the last three games played. Watford made seven counterattacks in the first game and only three in the next three games. The team is unable to play according to their attacking style.

Watford manager Xisco Munoz has a huge task ahead of him in the upcoming season. His team is unable to produce many chances in the recent games. Watford team has not troubled the opposition keeper in the last three games. The team needs to look at their shooting and focus more on working the opposition keeper. Watford might focus back on their counterattacks and trouble the opposition with their strength.