Aguero, Salah, Mane, Kane and Aubameyang sit atop the Premier League goal scoring table. These are also some of the names that probably spring to mind if you were asked which Premier League player has taken more shots than any other this season. The answer is in fact Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Aguero, Salah, Mane, Kane and Aubameyang sit atop the Premier League goal scoring table. These are also some of the names that probably spring to mind if you were asked which Premier League player has taken more shots than any other this season. The answer is in fact Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The Serbian front man has been peppering opposition goals all season. Not only does he lead the way for goal attempts (111), Level with Mo Salah, but he’s also top for shots in the box (83) so his efforts haven’t just been speculative ones from distance.
When it comes to headers Mitrovic is a class above the rest. With 18 more than any other player, Mitrovic’s 44 headed goal attempts highlight his aerial ability. It’s no wonder that 6 of his 10 Premier League goals have been nodded into the back of the net, once again more than any other player.
Only Mo, Salah (52), Paul Pogba (45) and Harry Kane (43) beat Mitrovic (40) when it comes to shots on target. Mitrovic however hasn’t been as clinical on front of goal, converting only 10 of his 40 shots on target and perhaps that’s one reason why he hasn’t scored more.
Having started the season from where he left off in the Championship, the goals have been harder to come by as the season has progressed. He has already surpassed his goal tally from the 2015/16 season with Newcastle in which he scored 9 Premier League goals. His 10 goals this seaon ranks him joint 21st overall.
When we take a look at Mirovic’s xG he ranks 11th with 11.96. This seems to be more in line with his goals tally. It could be that headed goal attempts have less acuracy than those with the boot because none of the top goalscorers this season have scored many headed goals.
He has had 19 big chances (10th) this season and only managed to convert 7 of those. This could indicate that hes not as clinical as other or it could be that some of these chances have been headed goal attempts. For comparison Sadio Mane also has 19 big chances but he has scored 11 of his big chances.
Some people swear by stats, whether it be shots on target, shots in the box or xG. While they can be an extremely useful tool they don’t trump actually watching games and giving a player the eye test. Dooing this would easily highlght that already relegated Fulham have not been good going forward this season and as a result Mitrovic has been isolated in games. A look at the stats only may suggest otherwise.