𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Expected goals (xG) have rapidly become a staple of football. The metric simply measures the quality of a team’s chance creation and is one of many barometers for a team’s success over a season.

So what did we learn from the Premier League’s first week?

Well, Manchester United recorded 1.8xG but struggled to create quality chances. Michael Carrick’s team got just five of their 21 shots on target, while eight attempts were blocked.

Their shot accuracy of 24 per cent was worse than in 33 of their 38 league matches last season. Sixteen of those attempts were worth less than 0.1xG.

Hull City scored twice from headers through their centre-backs against United. The win, created by solid defensive foundations, saw their seventh-best xG overperformance since the start of 2025-26 (+0.99; two goals from 1.01xG).

Ipswich Town were also successful on their Premier League return, creating marginally more xG (1.8) than their 2025-26 average (1.7) in the win over Sunderland.

New signing Emersonn took one of the best chances of the weekend to get off the mark, tapping in a 0.77xG shot. Daizen Maeda could have joined him in scoring on debut but got his header from a good area worth 0.61xG horribly wrong.

Those two attempts contributed to Ipswich’s high xG tally despite attempting just 10 shots, fewer than in all but two games in the Championship last season.