Potential areas of concern evaluated at Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Man City and all Premier League clubs after summer transfer window and Deadline Day
Wednesday 14 September 2022 13:03, UK
What is the area of concern at every Premier League club after the summer transfer window closed? Sky Sports' statistician Jayant Ganju takes a look...
All statistics refer to Premier League games unless mentioned otherwise.
Defensive midfielder
Arsenal have recruited in attack and defence, but one position they failed to upgrade was defensive midfield. The Gunners are heavily dependent on Thomas Partey: their win percentage has dropped from 70 per cent to 47 per cent when he does not play since the start of last season. They have lost more games in his absence than with him on the pitch in 10 fewer matches.
The Ghanaian is not a regular in the Arsenal side - his longest sequence of successive league starts for the club is nine. Aston Villa rejected three bids from the Gunners for Douglas Luiz on Deadline Day, evidence of their need to recruit in this area.
Centre-back
Aston Villa moved incredibly quickly to sign Sevilla centre-back Diego Carlos. Unfortunately, he played just two games before requiring surgery on his Achilles and is set to be out for the next few months.
Out of the non-promoted teams, only Leicester (14) have conceded more goals this season and the Villans are one of three teams (also Leicester and Southampton) yet to keep a clean sheet this season. Further back, they have no shutouts in their last 11 games - their longest run since 2016, when they finished bottom.
Full-backs
From the beginning of last season, Brentford have conceded the highest percentage of goals from crosses.
They signed Scottish full-back Aaron Hickey in the summer window, but have still conceded the joint-most goals from crosses (four) this season. Urgent repair is needed in this department.
Centre-forward
Brighton have mitigated the departures of first-team players, such as Marc Cucurella and Yves Bissouma, with the addition of Pervis Estupinan and the emergence of Moises Caicedo. However, they failed to sign a striker to replace Neal Maupay - their top-scorer in the previous three seasons.
As a result, Danny Welbeck must now carry the primary threat in attack. He has not started more than 17 games in a campaign since the 2014/15 season and has not scored more than six goals since two seasons before that.
Centre-forward
It is unfair to comment on where the Cherries are lacking, considering three of their opening six fixtures have been against Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City. Half of their conceded goals (nine of 18) came in one game against Liverpool and it is important to remember they have picked up seven points (and two clean sheets) in three games against Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, and Wolves.
Nevertheless, they have the fewest shots per game (5.7) and expected goals (2.5) in the Premier League this season, so one problem area could be in front of goal.
Centre-back
It was never going to be easy replacing Antonio Rudiger. The loss of Andreas Christensen, coupled with Thiago Silva turning 38 later this month, only compounds the problem in central defence.
Even though Chelsea have spent more than £100m on Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly, the early signs do not look promising. They have conceded nine goals this term - it took them 16 games to concede as many in the previous campaign.
The main concern for Chelsea fans is how they are defending set-pieces. The Blues shipped four goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) last season - only Manchester City (one) had a better record. Alarmingly, they have already matched their tally from last term, and we are only six games into the season.
Centre-forward
Since the start of last season, Wilfried Zaha has scored 31.6 per cent of Crystal Palace's goals (18 of 57). This is the highest proportion of any of the non-relegated sides.
Conor Gallagher scored the second-most goals (eight) for the Eagles in this period, while forwards Odsonne Edouard and Jean-Philippe Mateta have netted six each. With Gallagher returning to his parent club Chelsea, there is an urgent need for Palace to get higher output from their forwards.
Centre-forward
The additions of James Tarkowski and Conor Coady have gone a long way to addressing defensive issues. However, with the loss of Richarlison, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin's ongoing injury issues, the Toffees have been glaringly light up top. No team has underperformed their expected goals (excluding penalties) by a larger amount than Everton (-3.55) this season.
The addition of Neal Maupay fills the void but no player has underperformed their expected goals more than the Frenchman since his Premier League debut in 2019.
Centre-forward
Aleksandar Mitrovic broke several Championship records last season and has the most goals in the English top divisions since the start of last season - but what would Fulham do if their leading marksman did not play or suffered a bad run of form?
He has only missed two league games since the beginning of last season - but Marco Silva's side rely heavily on his goals and have won just three of 19 games when he has not scored.
Centre-forward
Leeds have lost their top scorer and top two goal threats from last season in Raphinha and Daniel James. With Patrick Bamford's fitness issues and worrying form in front of goal, Jesse Marsch would be concerned where the goals will come from this season.
Rodrigo started the season well, scoring four goals in his opening three games, but he has since suffered a shoulder injury. Leeds' failed pursuit of Senegalese forward Bamba Dieng highlights their need to recruit up top.
Goalkeeper
The Foxes have several areas of concern: they sit bottom of the table with one point and have shipped 16 goals - their worst start ever to a Premier League season and their worst start to a top-flight campaign since 1983/84.
Kasper Schmeichel left in the summer and has left a huge void in his absence. His replacement, Danny Ward, has the second-worst save percentage (48.4 per cent) this season. He has conceded 16 goals from an expected goals on target conceded (xGA) of 12.46 - which means he has conceded 3.4 goals more than expected.
Only Bournemouth's Mark Travers had underperformed this metric to a greater degree, and the Cherries have now switched stoppers. Is it time Leicester do the same as they look to secure their first clean sheet this term?
Central midfield
Thiago makes Liverpool tick. No player in the Premier League had more passes into the final third per 90 last season, and only Joao Cancelo (109) had more touches per 90. The Spaniard also led the Reds across a raft of additional per-90 metrics, including successful passes, possession won in the attacking third and distance covered.
His impact has been felt by Liverpool as their points-per-game tally drops from 2.7 when he starts to 2.0 when he doesn't. To put this into context, 2.7 points per game would equate to 103 points over a season, which would be enough to win any Premier League season except one.
Conversely, exactly two points per game equates to 76 points in a season, which would typically secure third place. Liverpool are unbeaten in his last 27 Premier League starts - a run stretching back to March 2021.
However, the Spaniard is missing more games than he is playing. His longest run of successive starts for Liverpool is seven. Time will tell if Deadline Day signing Arthur Melo can step up to the plate.
Left-footed centre-back
It is extremely difficult to find a fault in the champions' squad after securing, arguably, the deal of the window in signing Erling Haaland for £51m. A possible worry could be the fact that they have shipped six goals, and the absence of Aymeric Laporte.
Pep Guardiola prefers having a left-footed centre-back. Nathan Ake can play this role, but the Dutchman has his fitness issues.
Since Laporte's Manchester City debut in January 2018, City have conceded almost double the number of goals when the Frenchman does not start. The team's points-per-game ratio also dips 0.4 in his absence, which could prove pivotal come May.
Defensive midfield
Manchester United appear to have signed a player in every position, so it is still uncertain to see where the problem areas are. However, the failed pursuit of Frenkie de Jong seems to tell us that Erik ten Hag really wanted his former player.
The United boss used the Dutchman primarily as a defensive midfielder at Ajax, a role that Casemiro has been brought in to fill. The Brazilian is yet to start a Premier League game since his arrival, so the jury is still out on him. United do need an upturn in the middle of the park - ranking 14th for possession won in the middle third this season.
Winger
Newcastle have recruited smartly since the beginning of the year. Their £63m capture of striker Alexander Isak towards the end of this window addressed deficiencies up top.
However, the Magpies still appear light in wide attacking positions - an area they have failed to invest in since January.
Centre-back
When a team makes over 20 new signings, it is difficult to know what their starting XI will be. Forest have scored the third-fewest goals and conceded the third most. However, they have attacking players such as Emmanuel Dennis and Morgan Gibbs-White who are still finding their feet.
The main concern will be in defence. Steve Cooper's side have faced the most shots and shots on target and conceded the most goals from corners. Only Bournemouth (18) and Leicester (16) have conceded more goals than their tally of 14.
An injury to Senegalese centre-back Moussa Niakhate in his second start was a blow and they are still playing a back three of Joe Worral, Steve Cook, and Scott McKenna - the same trio who played the majority of games in the Championship last season.
Centre-forward
No team has scored a higher percentage of goals from set-pieces (excluding pens) since the start of last season than Southampton (34 per cent). James Ward-Prowse - a central midfielder who takes set-pieces - was the Saints' top scorer last season, which suggests Ralph Hussenhuttl still lacks firepower.
Creative midfielder
Tottenham have had a successful transfer window, but the one problem area could be creating chances from midfield. In fact, Spurs have the second-fewest passes into the final third per game (41.8) this season - only Bournemouth (39.7) have fewer.
Antonio Conte does like his attacks to come from the wings via crosses, but this might be something to keep an eye on.
Centre-forward
West Ham have scored the joint-fewest goals this season (three) and only Wolves have a poorer shot-conversion rate. Meanwhile, the Hammers also rank among the bottom five across a raft of key attacking metrics.
The club signed striker Gianluca Scamacca for £35.5m and he has been limited to one Premier League start this season - but will be hoping to live up to expectations.
Centre-forward
Wolves have lacked in the forward department. Sasa Kalajdzic was brought in on Deadline Day but suffered an ACL injury on his debut and is set to be sidelined for several months.
Bruno Lage's side have scored the joint-fewest goals this season and have the worst shot-conversion rate.
Raul Jimenez was Wolves' top scorer last season with six goals - the fewest for any Premier League team. In fact, only three teams in Europe's top five leagues had a lower highest individual scorer.
Wolves will be hoping Diego Costa will hit the ground running, having signed a deal until the end of the season on Tuesday.
