Tottenham Hotspur fans have finally been given something to cheer about with Ange Postecoglou in charge, with the Australian's side seemingly shaking off the ‘Spursy’ tag and looking to go back top of the Premier League with a win over Fulham on Monday night.
And now BetMGM can reveal the North London side’s fans are getting some of the best bang for their buck in the league – with James Maddison the most dangerous player in the top flight and the team as a whole second only to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in terms of overall attacking threat.
With Maddison ready to strut his stuff again on Monday Night Football, newsports betting brand BetMGM has pored through the stats from the 2023/24 season to date to identify the teams and players that top the charts in the cutting-edge football metric Expected Threat (xT).
xT looks at how a player’s passing, dribbling and carrying increases their team’s likelihood of scoring a goal. In short: the type of action that gets fans on the edge of their seats.
Maddison’s actions have made Tottenham Hotspur 106 per cent more likely to create a scoring opportunity in games this season, as BetMGM’s xT per 90 table shows, with his rejuvenated Spurs team-mate Yves Bissouma not far behind.
Manchester City duo Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji are exemplifying Guardiola’s playing-out-from-the-back philosophy by taking third and fourth sport – despite Akanji’s red card on Saturday against Brighton – while Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez shows he may be starting to live up to his huge £106.8million transfer fee in January.
His passing has made the Blues 84 per cent more likely to produce quality chances, most recently in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to Arsenal.
With Tottenham looking to claim top spot back from City after the weekend’s action, they are just behind the defending Treble Winners in the list of Premier League Entertainers ranked by xT – this is how many times during a game each team is likely to excite fans by producing a meaningful chance.
Spurs midfielder Maddison also takes centre-stage in BetMGM's Team of the Season so far – which is based on xT, xG+G (Expected Goals and Goals), xA (Expected Assists) and xD (how likely a goal is to change a game).
Maddison lines up in midfield alongside Manchester City’s Rodri - who would have been top of the xT table if he had passed the 540-minutes-played threshold - and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes.
Erling Haaland, Ollie Watkins and Mohamed Salah are the team’s fearsome front three, while Wolves’ Jose Sa is a surprise name in goal. Brighton’s Pervis Estupiñán, Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen, Chelsea veteran Thiago Silva and Newcastle’s Kieran Trippier complete the backline.
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