Tactical previews of all teams in the Premier League 2019/20 – part 1

This is the first of a four-part preview on what to look at teams in the remaining fixtures from a tactical perspective. The Premier League is at last returning on the 17th of June. We have missed English football for quite a while since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and most teams would have a full squad because of this long break.

This tactical analysis is mainly giving a brief analysis of the team style of plays. By looking at their strengths and weaknesses, we provide you with some hints on what to focus on in the remaining fixtures.

In the first analysis, we investigate the tactics of Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, Newcastle United, and Aston Villa.

Liverpool

Expected points: 57.8  (2^nd)

Points: 82  (1^st)

Jürgen Klopp’s team were undoubtedly the best in the league this season, and they played with a 4-3-3 on most occasions. They only need one more game to win the league title, and as the next game is a Merseyside Derby, it gives them the chance to celebrate in front of their rivals.

By looking at their xG (57.5) and actual numbers of goal (66), you might think the Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, and Roberto Firmino trident were hugely overperforming. Its true that they scored more than half of the team’s goals (57.58%), but in fact, they only scored 0.72 more than the xG in total, which was 38 to 37.28. Despite the consistent performances of their front players, what made Liverpool so strong was the system of Klopp.

The Reds were excellent to create the decisional crisis for the opponent. A very good functional player was Firmino, the famous “false-nine” in Klopp’s team. Below is his heat map of the season, showing his heavy presence out of the penalty box, reaching both half-spaces.

The Brazilian could be an extra man in every zone of the pitch, such as the fourth man to overload a midfield trio, or being the additional player to overload either flank. Furthermore, since his movements were unpredictable and the coverage was large, centre-backs were reluctant to track him. It was a small wonder when seeing Firmino having more passes per 90 (32.29) than any other centre-forward in the league (if we are excluding Dele Alli, who played as the striker in Feb and Mar).

In their 4-3-3 system, Liverpool wingers were inverted to the half-spaces and kept the full-backs occupied. At the meantime, the full-backs played very wide to control the wide corridor (sometimes this was an asymmetrical shape when only Trent Alexander-Arnold pushed high), and this put the opposition full-backs in a dilemma to either left the winger or the full-back free. You could see it in this example.

If the team insisted to defend by strict man-marking the full-backs, then wingers were dropped to the defensive third. Liverpool could enjoy a comfortable first phase of the attack with space and a numerical advantage. If the winger did not retreat deep, as seen by Michail Antonio’s position in this image, the player could still pick the wide player with a lofted ball.

Since Alexande