How have Premier League teams really started the season?

Both Manchester United and Chelsea have one of the top five attacks in the league but worryingly also rank in the bottom five defensively.

Liverpool’s back-to-back defeats following five straight wins gives a more accurate picture of how they have been playing, while Tottenham have needed to be very efficient to make up for their lack of dominance in games.

Aston Villa’s early-season struggles are no longer to do with finishing – they have now scored six non-penalty goals from an xG of 6.0 – but simply because they have not been playing well.

While promoted sides Leeds and Sunderland have adapted quite well to the top-flight, Burnley have struggled to make the jump so far with both the worst attack and the worst defence.

Looking at teams’ attacks specifically in the next graphic, United, Arsenal and Liverpool have taken by far the most shots, averaging around 15 per game.

But the reason why City and Crystal Palace have the best attacks overall is because they are creating much better chances, averaging around 0.14 xG per shot.

What that means is that historically Premier League sides have converted the chances City and Palace are creating at a rate of 14%, compared to 10% of the shots that United, Arsenal and Liverpool are.