Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s thankless task, Martin Odegaard’s pressure and Andreas Pereira’s corners in The Debrief | Football News

Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s 19 runs to challenge the Brighton defence on the opening weekend are still the most of any Premier League player this season, with another 17 in the 4-0 defeat to Tottenham. He tops the charts for attacking runs.

Not that this would have been noticed, even if the game were on TV – Everton’s striker is rarely seen. His team have conceded seven goals without reply in their first two games and Calvert-Lewin has only fired one shot. It was blocked.

He is one of two Premier League strikers to have started both games so far without registering a shot on target. The other, Ipswich’s Liam Delap, can at least point to the quality of his team’s opponents – Liverpool and Manchester City.

Calvert-Lewin can still claim he’s had worse service. Even Delap has had more touches. And when the ball reaches Calvert-Lewin, his situation hardly improves. That’s the story we’re told via Second Spectrum using tracking data.

There is a metric that calculates the number of passing options available to a player when he gets possession of the ball. Calvert-Lewin averages 0.96 options when he gets the ball – one of only four players to start both games with an average of less than one passing option.

No wonder his expected pass completion rate, calculated based on the difficulty of his passes, is just 57.3 percent. That’s the lowest of any Premier League player. Interestingly, Jordan Pickford is third on that stat. Everton’s long-ball football just isn’t working.

Some have been surprised to see Calvert-Lewin linked with a move away from Everton, given his disappointing form and fitness concerns. But look at the data and it’s easy to imagine he could look very different in a team that can find his runs.

Odegaard puts pressure on Arsenal

Martin Odegaard has had more creative performances for Arsenal than his display in their 2-0 win over Aston Villa last Saturday, but his pressing has led to seven turnovers of possession in their favour. He also did so 16 times in the opening match against Wolves.

No player has helped his team win back the ball through pressing more often this season than Odegaard. In total, he has had 133 pressing situations. These are the kind of numbers normally associated with workhorses rather than show ponies.

The Arsenal captain can of course also shine with the ball. Last season he created 88 chances from open play, the most of any player in the Premier League. But Mikel Arteta knows his work without possession is just as important for the Gunners.

Pereira’s set pieces for Fulham

It may come as a surprise to learn that Fulham created the second-most chances from corners of any Premier League team last season, behind Liverpool. It’s less surprising when you consider the quality of delivery from their midfielder Andreas Pereira.

The Brazilian has been back in action in the opening weeks of the season, creating nine set-piece chances. For context, that’s more than twice as many as any other Premier League player. He’s become a key weapon for Marco Silva’s team.

Southampton’s passive passing

Unusually, it is a newly promoted side who have attempted the most passes in the Premier League so far this season, with Russell Martin’s Southampton side having completed 1,305, which puts them just ahead of reigning champions Manchester City.

But while City have six goals and six points, Southampton have failed to score either. Given the context of their two games so far, that is alarming. They have had more than an hour against Newcastle’s 10 players and a home game against Nottingham Forest.

It was also a deserved defeat at St Mary’s. Saints had 65 per cent of the ball but only 18 per cent of the shots. Remarkably, despite their dominance in possession, only three teams – Ipswich, Leicester and Everton – have a lower expected goals total so far.

Southampton have an average of 683 passes per expected goal, far more than any team except Ipswich. They have been too passive. But don’t expect Martin to change their approach. He explained this in an exclusive interview with Sky Sport before the new season.

“For me it would be crazy and illogical to go to the Premier League and change it completely. We still have to have the intention to want to dominate the ball – we just have to get better at it. I don’t think we’ll continue to play ugly because that’s just not us.”

Whether they can continue to play like this is the question. Martin pointed to Forest’s superior quality in the final third, but the statistics suggest this is a creativity problem rather than a finishing one. Too few of those 1,305 passes were threatening.