Stoke City have the Championship's best in one position and this backs it up | OneFootball

FLW examine the data behind Viktor Johansson's start to life at Stoke City.

There is no doubting Stoke City goalkeeper Viktor Johansson's quality after he won Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year in each of his last two seasons with Rotherham United.

John Percy of The Telegraph reported that the Swedish international moved to the bet365 stadium, in a deal that will be worth around £1 million after Stoke activated a clause in the Rotherham captain's contract which allowed him to leave for that reduced price if the Millers were relegated to League One.

Johansson was given the number one shirt following his move from Rotherham United; the Swede picked up the mantle left by departing goalkeeper, Daniel Iversen, who returned to Leicester City following his loan. He has settled in well with his new club and further cemented himself as one of the outstanding goalkeepers in the Championship.

Johansson's journey prior to joining Stoke

Johansson’s journey to Championship recognition has been an intriguing one, highlighted by his standout performances for Rotherham before making his recent summer switch. Johansson is a product of Aston Villa’s academy, and spent time on loan and with Leicester City before finding stability with the Millers.

It was at Rotherham in League One where the Swedish shot-stopper truly developed and started to come into his own when showcasing his abilities, often single-handedly securing his side vital points with remarkable match-winning saves.

Johansson’s key strength is undoubtedly his reflexes and agility in goal. Time and again, he has produced camera-worthy saves, proving himself as one of the best shot-stoppers in the Championship with regular saves to single-handedly keep Rotherham in the league two seasons ago.

His ability to get down quickly, coupled with a sharp sense of positioning, has made him a frustration at times for opposition forwards, even if momentarily, due to the lack of quality and coherence in front of him. It's no surprise that his data set often ranked among the highest in the Championship during his time at Rotherham, even if clean sheets were few and far between.

However, it's fair to say that while Johansson excels at keeping shots out, his distribution has often been criticised. It is perhaps the only aspect of his game which stops him from being a Premier League goalkeeper. His kicking, particularly under pressure, can be erratic, and there have been moments where his decision-making or lack of focus with the ball at his feet has let him down.

In modern football, where goalkeepers are expected to play an integral role in build-up play, Johansson's limited abilities in this area stand out as a weakness. However, despite these shortcomings, Stoke secured a real bargain by landing the 26-year-old for the long-term over the summer.

For a goalkeeper of his calibre, the £1 million fee paid by Stoke was minimal, especially considering the premium placed on elite shot-stoppers. It’s hard to argue against the move being one of the best deals in the Championship this season, as Johansson’s strengths far outweigh his limitations, and he has already become a key figure in Narcis Pelach's side.

Viktor Johansson shines in one particular aspect for Stoke City

Of course, there are a number of top quality goalkeepers in the Championship, and Johansson is undoubtedly among them. The likes of Thomas Kaminski (Luton Town), Anthony Patterson (Sunderland), Alex Palmer (West Brom), and Michael Cooper (Sheffield United) are the other names that will be mentioned the most in these debates, but Johansson is arguably the division's best.

The 'goals prevented' stat is a key measure in football analytics, assessing a goalkeeper's ability to stop shots that are expected to result in goals. By comparing the number of goals a 'keeper is expected to concede (based on post-shot xG data) to the actual goals conceded, this stat reveals how much a keeper's shot-stopping skills influence match outcomes.

A positive 'goals prevented' figure highlights a keeper outperforming expectations and saving more shots than expected by making critical saves that defy the odds. It’s an essential metric for evaluating a goalkeeper's real impact beyond clean sheets and basic save percentages, among other factors that can skew our perception of them by isolating incidents where a shot is attempted for them to save.

For example, Johansson is eighth for save percentage with 74.2%, but that is not the stat which makes him stand out above all others. Evidently, he has had to fight hard for his three clean sheets thus far by saving 49 shots, which is the highest figure in the division. That is still not the most impressive figure within Johansson's incredible data set.

So far this season, Stoke have conceded 17 goals in the Championship. However, without Johansson's heroics in goal, that figure could be much higher. Per FotMob, he has prevented 6.7 goals, which is significantly more (3.0) than any other goalkeeper in the league. Stoke have struck gold with the ex-Rotherham goalkeeper, who could easily be considered as the best in the second tier.