Premier League Insights: Matchweek 21
Image Via: Vecteezy
Parameters
As we head into the second half of the football calendar, Ludus is focused on delivering analytical insights from amongst Europe’s top leagues, clubs, and players. The below observations constitute a quantitative review of the English Premier League (EPL) through Matchweek 21 (1/9/2026). Data was gathered from Fbref.com’s Premier League competition pages, thereafter cleaned manually via Excel, and then dissected and reformatted via R, with percentile rankings computed both amongst the group as a whole and then amongst position groups (defender, midfielder, and attacker). A couple of things to note before we get started:
Percentile rankings included are compared against position group unless otherwise noted.
Players must have played at least 465 minutes for inclusion (34th percentile and above), with 301 of 452 outfielders achieving this standard. Goalkeepers were omitted from the review.
Minute median: 1162
Maximum minutes played: 1890 (7 total players playing 100% of available PL minutes)
Positional breakdown of players included
Defenders: 117
Midfielders: 96
Attackers: 88
All data via FBref.com as of 1/9/2026
Age Profile
Radar Profiles: Defense
Crystal Palace’s Daniel Munoz, Arsenal’s Gabriel, Aston Villa’s Ian Maatsen, Manchester City’s Nico O’Reilly, and Chelsea’s Joshua Acheampong have been selected for review. This EPL season is of interest to tactical observers for the increase in long balls played, set piece utilization and continued emphasis on attacking fullbacks and wingbacks in varied tactical setups (Oliver Glasner’s Palace, Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United, and Unai Emery’s Villa, among others). As such, managers have seen an opportunity to leverage their defenders at the attacking end of the pitch, primarily where set piece contributions are concerned.
Centerbacks:
William Saliba gets most of the plaudits at Arsenal, but Gabriel is putting in a landmark shift at center back, and further up the pitch than most would expect. His combined offensive stats make him a dangerous proposition in and around the goal. He’s increased his shots per game from an impressive 0.84/gm last season to 0.92/gm so far this season. He’s also been prolific in his own goalmouth, blocking 1.28 shots per game, good for fifth in the league. His errors leading to shots are a concern (0.21/gm) in a team that has seen the majority of it’s goals against take place in open play rather than on the counter, per WhoScored.com (https://www.whoscored.com/teams/13/statistics/england-arsenal). Still, the Gunners 14 allowed goals in the league do not indicate a team very often in trouble.
Fullbacks:
While fullbacks have long been an important part of Pep Guardiola’s City, Nico O’Reilly’s impact isn’t a surprise. The City youngster has seen his breakout this season, contributing heavily at both ends. Daniel Munoz’ star turn for Crystal Palace continues, and Ian Maatsen is putting together a fascinating season at Villa.
Maatsen has been a sharp contributor defensively and offensively for a high-flying Aston Villa in 2025-26. Image via Alamy.com.
Josh Acheampong’s radar profile, on the other hand, makes for interesting viewing. His sample size did only barely breach the minimum limit (470 minutes played thus far), but in those 470 minutes he has proven himself an able passer and goal threat. Listed as a center back by most outlets, his SofaScore heat map nevertheless shows a player living closer to the right touchline; indeed new Blues boss Liam Rosenior has started him at right back in the absence of Reece James (health) and in place of Malo Gusto. His defensive statistics are a concern. The 19-year old tops the errors per-90 list in the league alongside Nottingham Forest’s Morato, and data would imply he is an unwilling tackler (see radar chart). How he gets on in supporting James and Gusto down Chelsea’s right will be worth watching.
Passing Trend: Switches
Of particular interest amongst the fullbacks profiled here is the low switch ratings for all. Opta defines a switch as a pass traveling in excess of 40 yards across the width of the pitch. This data suggests that much of the longer diagonal play seen this season is occurring less down the flanks. Six of the league’s highest switch pass players come from the middle of the pitch at center back (Fulham’s Joachim Andersen, Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke, West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos, Palace’s Marc Guehi, and Newcastle United’s Fabian Schär and Sven Botman), while only one plays in an out and out attacking role (Man United’s Bruno Fernandes). Only three fullbacks made the top 20: Burnley’s Kyle Walker; Tottenham’s Pedro Porro; and Man Ute’s Luke Shaw.
Midfielders: Rice, Arsenal, and Comparisons
In staking their claim for the title, Arsenal have done well to emphasize the all-round ability of Declan Rice. A quick scan of his heat map demonstrates his remarkable ability to truly cover the pitch and impact every area of the game. While we will leave the technical reviews for the more able-minded (like the exceptionally talented Raj Chohan, linked here), Arsenal is also a very well rounded team and their recruitment of starting midfield profiles in recent years (Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino, and Eberechi Eze) is well-balanced and impressive.
While that balance is helped by Rice, there is a profile for all of Mikel Arteta’s ambitions: pressing, where Merino is in the 99th percentile for defensive actions attempted in the final third; in creation, where Odegaard (top progressive passer and through ball player in the league, 95th percentile for xAG) and Rice (93rd percentile in progressive carries, 96th percentile and above in live passes and switch passes per game) excel; and in attack, where Eze ranks top of the league in the midfielder category for shots on target and Merino is in the 85th percentile for goals scored per 90. While naysayers will say that Merino plays often as a striker and Eze drifts toward the wing, their hypothetical value is highest as his accompaniment in the midfield. Arsenal’s weakest profile statistically is actually Zubimendi, who does excel at finding a pass (91st percentile in through balls, 93rd percentile for passes per game). A midfield three of Rice at 6 with license to roam and Eze and Merino ahead of him is in theory a powerful tool against low blocks, and one Arsenal should exploit more often.
For more on Rice and how he compares to other Premier League midfielders, check out the Radar profile below.
Arsenal’s Declan Rice verse the rest of the Premier League. For more, view Rice’s individual comparisons to top midfielders below.
Rayan Cherki
The newest gem at Manchester City, Rayan Cherki, is having a remarkable season. Despite missing nine games with a thigh issue beginning in late-August, the 22-year old has been a prolific playmaker both through the middle and as a right sided number 10 in his return to the side. Should his productivity keep up as his minutes increase (Pep should consider him undroppable, given his radar profile below), the midfielder is a good candidate for the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season award.
Image via Heute.at
In many ways, though, Cherki is also the beneficiary of the Premier League’s undisputed threats in open play: the league’s top goal scorers with 45 goals from 39.6 expected possess three of the EPL’s best statistical performers in Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku, both of whom have kicked on and excelled after disappointing campaigns in recent seasons. That may theoretically continue with the purchase of another star attacker in Antoine Semenyo, though City’s recent results (three successive draws) suggest a mild regression to the mean.
Rayan Cherki is challenging Rice for statistical supremacy, albeit with a lower sample size.
Other Profiles of Interest
Several much-talked about midfielders have made this review, including two of Europe’s hottest midfield prospects in Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace) and Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest). In addition, two others who surprised statistically and were explored in more detail are Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt (high assists) and Liverpool’s Curtis Jones (top volume passer). Check out how each of these four rank compared to Rice below:
Attacking: Two Lead the Way
Image Credit: Jan Kruger and Getty Images
Erling Haaland continues his march up the Premier League’s records. The fastest player ever to 20, 50, and 100 goals in the Premier League, Haaland’s 20 goals through 21 matches played leads the league followed closely by Brentford’s Igor Thiago. As usual, though, statistics are a bit misleading. Brentford’s Brazilian has scored five from the penalty spot, having attempted six - four more than Erling Haaland, who has only attempted (and scored) two. Thiago ranks behind both Palace’s Jean-Phillipe Mateta and Villa’s Ollie Watkins for non-penalty xG (npxG) but has outscored his expected open play xG (+3.2), while Mateta (-3.9) and Watkins (-1.4) have finished less ably. Still, his accomplishments thus far have been important, and he has been effusively praised by his manager, Keith Andrews. For more on Thiago’s brilliant start and Brentford’s tactical adaptation to the league, please see this brilliant piece of analysis from The Athletic’s Liam Tharme.
Bournemouth’s Semenyo Succession
There is reason for optimism on England’s south coast, where 15th-place Bournemouth have just completed their record sale (amongst many other deeply impressive sales in the space of just two years) in sanctioning the departure of Antoine Semenyo for a fee in the range of £65 million. That reason is a 19-year old Frenchman called Eli Junior Kroupi, the Premier League’s brightest statistical under-20 attacker. Against an admittedly small-ish sample size (570 minutes), Kroupi has scored seven goals from 18 shots and 3.4 xG. Semenyo, for comparison, had only amassed 5.1 npxG in over three times the amount of minutes (1,798), converting nine times. He’s profiled as both an out and out number nine (against Brentford in a 4-1 defeat) and shadow striker (against Tottenham in a 3-2 victory) in his last two starts.
Kroupi’s technical and statistical profiles are interesting. Of his seven goals, four of them have come from his right foot (two of those from distance), two from his left foot (including a smartly taken goal in the 4-4 goal glut against Man Utd) and one from his head. He is by the eye not a true poacher, nor a linker of play by the numbers (ranking in the bottom half of all league attackers for passes, progression play, and expected assists (xAG)). While not overly physical (179 cm, 70 kg), he’s a willing participant in the press (slightly skewed by Bournemouth’s high-pressing approach) and in clearing balls from his own box, ranking in the 94th and 83rd percentiles respectively in per-90 values. As a manager accustomed to replacing talent window after window, Andoni Iraola may have a challenge in developing an ecosystem where both Kroupi and club-record signing Evanilson can coexist, let alone thrive; the two have played just 235 minutes together in 8 matches, with 124 of those coming from their last two games (against Tottenham in the league and Newcastle in the FA Cup). If Bournemouth are to match last season’s top half finish, Iraola may have no choice but to prioritize one, and given the choice, he would do well to select Kroupi.