The classic scoring chart: goals, assists and the sum of the two, plus the share of the team’s total output a player accounts for and the average per 90 minutes.

The share column is what sets this list apart from a plain top-scorer chart. A player responsible for a large slice of a team’s output matters regardless of where that team sits in the table. The per-90 column allows fair comparison between players with different amounts of playing time, but treat it with care for players with few minutes.

A player’s expected output: expected goals, expected assists and the sum of the two as expected points, plus per 90 minutes.

These measures are built on the quality of the chances a player creates and gets into, not on whether the ball went in. They therefore fluctuate less than actual goals and assists and give a better picture of underlying level. Set them against Goals, Assists & Points to see who is over- and underperforming.

A player’s goals set against their expected goals, both in totals and per 90 minutes, plus their share of the team’s goals.

Goals clearly above xG mean the player has finished better than the chances warrant – impressive, but hard to sustain. Below, and the player has either been unlucky or wasteful. The gap tends to even out, so a forward in the latter group is often about to start scoring.

A player’s assists against expected assists, in totals and per 90 minutes, plus their share of the team’s assists.

xA measures the quality of the passes that led to shots, regardless of whether the shot went in. A player with high xA but few assists is creating chances for team-mates who are not converting – often a sign that the assists will come once the finishing catches up.

A player’s actual points compared with their expected points, with the difference between them and xP per 90 minutes.

The difference column is the heart of it: a large plus means the player has got more out of their situations than the chances warrant, a minus that output lags behind the underlying numbers. Over a season most drift towards zero, which makes the column useful for judging who is on the way up or down.

The pass before the assist. A second assist is credited when a player makes the second-to-last pass in a move that ends in a goal, shown in totals and per 90 minutes.

The measure highlights players who start the chances without appearing on the regular scoring chart – often deeper midfielders and defenders who play the ball that breaks the opponent’s shape. High numbers here alongside low ones in the points table describe a classic build-up player.

Passes that lead directly to a team-mate having a shot, whether or not it was scored. Shown in totals, as a share of the team’s shot assists and per 90 minutes.

Shot assists are a broader measure than assists because they do not require the ball to go in. That makes the list steadier from match to match and better at showing who is genuinely feeding a team’s shooters.

The number of clear scoring chances a player has created for the team, in totals and per 90 minutes.

Unlike shot assists, only situations judged to be genuine chances are counted, not every shot. The list therefore identifies a team’s main chance creators. Compare with Assists & xA: a player creating plenty without collecting assists is usually being let down by the finishing, not by their own play.

How well a player takes their chances: open-play goals set against the number of chances they have had, expressed as a conversion rate. Penalties are excluded.

A high conversion rate marks out the clinical finishers, but always read it alongside the number of chances. A player who has scored from three of four situations has proved nothing yet; one holding a high rate across thirty has.

A player’s passing volume and accuracy: total passes, completed passes and the share completed.

The figures depend heavily on position. Centre-backs and defensive midfielders normally sit highest because they play shorter, safer balls, while creative players sit lower because they attempt harder ones. Compare players in similar roles.

A player’s forward passes: volume, completions and completion rate.

Forward passing is the risky part of the game, so the rate naturally sits below overall pass completion. High volumes mark players trusted to build play. Read volume and rate together – a high rate on low volume usually means the player is avoiding the difficult balls.

Passes that give a team-mate a shooting opportunity directly, in totals and per 90 minutes, set against the player’s overall passing volume.

This is arguably the cleanest measure of creativity, since it does not depend on anyone else putting the ball away. Wingers and attacking midfielders normally dominate the list, but a full-back high up here is playing a distinctly offensive role.

Creative, risky passes that break the opponent’s lines, with volume, completion rate and average per 90 minutes.

The measure picks out players willing to attempt the difficult ball. A low completion rate is normal and not necessarily a weakness – the volume says more about a player’s role and courage, while the rate separates those who get real reward from those who mostly give the ball away.

Passes that move the ball a significant distance towards the opponent’s goal, with volume, completion rate and average per 90 minutes.

The measure identifies the players who drive a team forward with their passing. Centre-backs and deep midfielders often rank highly because they have the space to play those balls, so compare within position rather than straight across the league.

A player’s direct play: long passes and through balls, plus the two combined per 90 minutes.

Long passes tend to belong to goalkeepers, centre-backs and deep midfielders, while through balls are the more creative half – balls that split the defensive line for a runner. A player high on through balls is typically the last point of build-up before a shot.

A player’s duel work, split into offensive and defensive duels, each with a volume and a win rate, plus the overall figure on the right.

Volume reflects role and style more than quality: centre-backs and defensive midfielders rank high in defensive duels, wingers and forwards in offensive ones. The win-rate columns are the interesting part – compare players in the same position, as the normal level differs sharply between duel types.

A player’s aerial game: aerial duels contested and the share won, plus headed passes and how many of them find a team-mate.

Aerial statistics pick out centre-backs, target forwards and the players teams look for on long balls and set pieces. Height helps, but timing and body position usually decide the outcome – which is why shorter players can still post high win rates.

The number of times a player wins the ball back for the team, in totals and per 90 minutes.

The measure highlights the hard workers in the press, often midfielders and forwards who track back. Read it alongside the team’s possession: in a side that spends a lot of time without the ball there are naturally more chances to recover it.

A player’s corner taking: corners delivered in total and per 90 minutes, corner assists and the share of corners that become assists, plus total xA from corners and xA per corner taken.

The last two columns are the most telling. A taker can have few assists through sheer bad luck, but a high xA per corner shows the deliveries consistently reach dangerous positions – and that is the quality that holds up over time.

A player’s free-kick work: free kicks taken, how many were direct efforts on goal, free-kick goals, free-kick assists and xA from free kicks.

The list separates two roles. A player with many direct efforts is the team’s striker of a ball, while one with high free-kick assists and xA is the player who delivers into the box. Free-kick goals are rare, so the xA column says more about genuine quality than the goal counts do.

A player’s fouling record both ways: free kicks won and free kicks conceded, in totals and per 90 minutes.

Free kicks won mark out players who hold the ball under pressure or run at defenders. Free kicks conceded relate to how aggressively a player defends – high numbers are not automatically bad, but become a problem if they also bring cards. Compare with Cards.

The number of yellow and red cards a player has collected, plus yellows per 90 minutes.

Card statistics say something about temperament, but mostly about role: defensive midfielders and centre-backs who challenge often naturally collect more. The per-90 column is the fair comparison, since a player with full playing time would otherwise always rank above a substitute.

A player’s penalties: how many taken and how many scored.

The sample is tiny – most teams get a handful of penalties a season – so read the figures as a note rather than a measure of skill. Even reliable takers miss from time to time, and a single miss says almost nothing.

The number of times a player has been caught offside, in totals and per 90 minutes.

High figures almost always belong to forwards who consistently attack the space behind the defence. It is as much a marker of style as of carelessness – a striker who is never offside rarely makes the runs that break a defensive line.