Stat Attack – AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Here is the xG from the Wolves game which is fairly bleak from AFCB’s perspective. The opening half-hour was a fairly even and open affair with Kepa reacting very well to save a shot from Bellegarde that was heading in (1 in 6) in the 8th minute after Semedo had hit the post. Three minutes later Alt-Nouri had a reasonable chance blocked (1 in 9) whilst in the 15th minute Kluivert had a shot charged down by Sa (3 in 10) and int eh 26th minute Ryan Christie had a shot blocked (1 in 8). After 30 minutes, the xG was AFCB 0.46 and Wolves 0.45, which was when Zabarnyi was sent off.
I’ll leave the debate on whether this was the correct decision for discussion elsewhere, but it caused a big problem for Bournemouth in creating chances against a team that sat back once they had taken the lead 6 minutes later. A cross was played into the box, Hill missed the header, Huijsen looked to have assumed it would be clear and the ball fell to Cunha in the middle of the area to fire home (3 in 5). There were no other real chances before half time and at the break, the xG was AFCB 0.56 Wolves 1.05.
The second half was dismal from AFCB’s perspective. Wolves may have defended well, and our players may collectively have had a bad day at the office but there was only 1 shot from Bournemouth, a low-rated attempt from Semenyo. Wolves created little too, smothering the game, but had a 1 in 7 attempt from Semedo and a glorious chance for Munetsi (2 in 3) which was put wide. The final xG was AFCB 0.62 Wolves 2.00, with understat having a similar margin, at 0.63 vs 2.10.
