By the numbers: The stats behind Wolves' lack of goals
Wolves have found goals hard to come by as of late – but why is that the case?
Having netted six times in as many Premier League games, only the bottom three of Burnley, Sheffield United and Fulham have scored fewer than Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in 2020/21.
The onus is on stepping up and here, we take a look at the numbers behind the lack of goals thus far.
Team stats
Wolves’ number of shots is not as low as you might have expected, having come up with 69 in six matches.
Still, it places them 12th among the 20 top-flight teams – a whopping 45 behind leaders Liverpool, and 16 behind second-placed Leeds.
When you break down Wolves’ figure into shots per game, you get 11.5, which is not catastrophic by any means.
But it is down from last season, when Nuno’s pack averaged 12.1 shots a match.
Of Wolves’ 69 shots up to yet this term, 18 have been on target, giving them a shot accuracy of 26 per cent.
Across the whole of last campaign, though, they had a shot accuracy of 32 per cent. Just bringing in 2018/19 for a second, too, they had 12.5 shots a game and, again, a shot accuracy of 32 per cent.
There is lots of football to be played, of course, but Wolves will want to get those averages up sooner rather than later.
Player stats
We all know Raul Jimenez has chipped in with four of the six goals so far, so it should be no surprise that he also tops the chart when it comes to shots.
The Mexican has had 21 attempts, with Portuguese duo Pedro Neto (12) and Ruben Neves (11) being the others in double figures.
Daniel Podence is fourth on the list, with seven shots, and Romain Saiss is fifth, with four shots. Adama Traore, meanwhile, has managed three while midfielders Leander Dendoncker and Joao Moutinho are tied on two.
Interestingly, Neto’s two shots a game average is the same as what Diogo Jota – now at Liverpool – managed in the league for Wolves last season.
Jimenez’s 3.5 shots a game is higher than his 3.1 last term, too, while Podence has come up with 1.4 compared to 1.1, offering some encouragement that things will get better.
Goal records
Also worth taking into account are the career goal records among Wolves’ squad.
The main thing is somebody stepping up to support Jimenez but looking at central midfielders Neves, Moutinho and Dendoncker, they get a goal every 12.4, 12.8 and 13.6 games respectively.
Forward players Neto, Podence and Traore score once in every 8.2, 8.3 and 11.2 matches respectively.
The departed Jota, meanwhile, averages one goal every 3.1 games.
Ultimately, somebody needs to find a more ruthless streak.
