Ligue 1 Data Analysis: Are Lille lucky to be on top?

Last couple of weeks on our site you could read data analysis on Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and this week it is about Ligue 1. Similarly to Serie A and Bundesliga lately there was domination by Juventus and Bayern while in France the club that dominated last years was PSG. They are facing great competition from their rivals in Ligue 1 and this season they will have a tough task to get on top based on the current situation.

Going through this analysis we will see how similar are teams from the middle to bottom part of the table while the top six teams on the table are clearly better than the rest. This analysis contains important data and statistics which will give us better insight in the performance of the clubs from Ligue 1. 

Performance and expected goals model

The first graph we will analyze consists of created metrics called defensive and offensive performance. Both metrics are in percentage value and they represent the team variance between xG and goals. 

In this graph it is clear how PSG is overperforming in defence by almost 90%. What let them down is their finishing, because with the stars they have in the squad they should be able to overperform their xG because of the quality of their players. League leaders Lille overperform in both directions which is surely one of the reasons why they are on top. They are accompanied by middle table teams Reims, Marseille and Bordeaux. It is a little concerning for Marseille to be in the middle of the table while overperforming their xG and now with Villas-Boas gone they face even more problems. Monaco and Rennes are slightly overperforming offensively while underperforming defensively while Lyon is overperforming defensively and underperforming offensively. Saint-Etienne underperforms in both metrics and they confirm that their last season wasn’t coincidence. 

Next graph will show us xG values to see the quality of the team based on the quality of chances created and allowed.