Ranking the player performances in Chelsea vs. Southampton

Chelsea earned a draw on the day due to some shaky individual performances, but how did the players rank as a unit against Southampton?

Chelsea was unable to keep control after a dominant first half display. Defensive mistakes, yet again, cost the side a win against Southampton. How did each player rank based on key statistics such as goals, assists and various attacking and defensive actions?

In order to rank the performance of the players in this game, we use Sky Sports’ power ranking methodology. Essentially, points are awarded to players based on statistics such as goals scored, assists, defensive attacking actions and much more. Using data from Wyscout, the players’ stats are used to assign points based on Sky Sports’ power ranking system. Of course, this will not be an exact match of the scores from Sky, as data is recorded slightly differently at Wyscout. Further, some statistics like “accurate keeper sweepings” and a few others are not recorded. In some cases, subjectivity is used to assess metrics like big chances missed and errors leading to goals. Here are the rankings:

Results

Based on calculations for around 30 different metrics, Werner ranked No. 1 as he amassed the most points. This is not a surprise given he scored two goals and provided an assist for the third. Werner was able to perform well in front of goal and improve his game from a tactical perspective, earning him top honors.

Digging deeper

Ben Chilwell, Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic put up the best numbers in terms of chance creation amongst all Blues. This metric is calculated differently at Sky Sports, as a proxy, the metrics used to assess this is shot assists, key passes and second assists (i.e the pass before the assist).

Kepa Arrizabalaga was the only player to get a negative point total. This is because goalkeepers are penalised heavily—at negative 600 points for each goal conceded—while defenders lose only 200 points per goal. The second goal was primarily Kurt Zouma’s error, however, Arrizabalaga’s noncommittal tackle also played a hand in the second goal given up. Other than that, for the first and third goal, there was not much that Arrizabalaga could have done. However, at the end of the day, goalkeepers are judged on clean sheets. Whilst the score is harsh, those are the realities of being a keeper in a leaky defence.

Zouma had a decent game from a statistical perspective, gaining points for winning possession 19 times, making 57 successful passes and winning nine out of his nine attempted ariel duels. However, he ranked second last because he has penalised -1500 points for the metric “errors leading to the goal”. Similarly, Kai Havertz had a decent game, bagging a goal and being involved in build-up play. However, he ranked third last because he was penalised for the mistake that led to Ings’ goal and for missing a big chance—the clear header he had from a corner.

Chilwell was the second-best player and there cannot be many arguments there. He was heavily involved in Chelsea’s attack down the left, partnering very well with Werner. While he did make seven interceptions, defensively he was not the best, winning only one of his seven attempted defensive duels. This was the lowest success rate amongst all of the Blues’ defenders.

Pulisic had moments of brilliance, drifting through midfield and making the crucial pass to Werner that led to Havertz’s goal. However, he ranks only seventh because he went missing for most of the second half. A bigger reason was that the players above him had better underlying numbers. This is a case where one must look beyond statistics to assess how good a player was because it is not adjusted for context.

Pulisic is not in the team to put up the largest passing numbers or do a lot of defensive work. He is instead in the team to produce the big moments. Once he starts scoring goals and laying on the assists, his scores will automatically go up. In this game, he played a big role in creating chances that statistics do not measure, but was not awarded as handsomely based on this methodology due to no “final output” and a relatively quiet game in terms of the other stats.

Finally, it is not much of surprise N’Golo Kante and Cesar Azpillicueta rank high up, they have been two of the most consistent players for the last few years, more often than not giving in a minimum 7/10 performance. Kante and Azpillicueta, however, lost the ball the most throughout the match. The pair lost possession 18 times each, both turning the ball over due to a plethora of misplaced passes. Kante’s losses often came from the opposing half of the pitch (11), whilst Azpillicueta primarily lost the ball in his own half (10).

Jorginho did well to get into the top four, primarily due to his assist on Werner’s second goal. He was also awarded for doing well defensively, winning seven out of his eight duels and completing eight interceptions to top things off. Overall, it was a dreary day for fans, but there were a lot of positive takeaways on an individual level.

All data comes from Wyscout.