La Liga 2022/23: How do the teams fare so far on xG and xGA?

The La Liga 2022/23 season is up and running and going into the first international break, there are not a lot of surprises at the top of the table. Real Madrid are top with six wins out of six and Barcelona are second with five wins and one draw. Real Betis are third in the table and former Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic Club are fourth in the table. Osasuna are the surprise package of the season so far — currently fifth in the table and Unai Emery’s Villarreal close out the European spots at sixth.

The following visualisation shows how the teams have fared so far in terms of Expected Goals(xG) and Expected Goals Against (xGA). The teams are ordered from top to bottom as per their position in the league table.

Barcelona, who have scored the most goals in the league (18), also have the highest xG in the league so far (18.04). The Catalans also have the best defence in the league — conceding just one goal so far from six games with an xGA of 3.83. Table toppers Real Madrid are the second-best attacking side in the league with an xG of 12.94(17 goals scored). Defensively, Unai Emery’s Villarreal are the second-best — conceding only 2 goals with an xGA of 5.38.

The most surprising of all teams is Sevilla. The club that finished fourth last season is languishing at the bottom end of the table at 15th. Julen Lopetegui’s men have one of the worst defensive records in the league, conceding 11 goals from an xGA of 12.43 and scoring just 7 goals from an xG of 7.75. Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid, 7th in the table, have scored 10 goals from an xG of 8.47 and have conceded 6 goals from an xGA of 6.57

Elche are the worst team defensively conceding 16 goals from an xGA of 16.63 and Cádiz are the worst team offensively, scoring just 1 goal from an xG of 2.95.