According to Squawka, Rashford’s masterpiece has an expected goals index (xG) of 0.03. Photo: Reuters .

The Manchester derby between MU and Man City is the highlight of round 27 of the Premier League. Despite being forced on the field right from the start, the “Red Devils” scored a goal with a super goal from striker Marcus Rashford.

In the 8th minute, starting from Andre Onana’s kick, Bruno Fernandes kept the ball and then returned it to Rashford, who shot a strong shot from outside the penalty area, not giving Ederson a chance to block.

According to Squawka , Rashford’s masterpiece has an expected goals index (xG) of 0.03. This is a very low number and it is not difficult to understand that goalkeeper Ederson’s flying move was not enough to help the home team escape defeat.

xG is one of the most important indicators in football over the past decade. Opta, the first company to introduce this index, uses the Qwinn AI system to analyze more than 2.5 million shots from 66,000 past players to be able to provide the xG of each specific shot, based on a series of parameters and data of the situation.

The calculated parameters do not include who took the shot. A situation has an xG rate of 0.5, which means that in 50% of similar situations the player will score. So, it can be simply understood that with Rashford’s goal, 100 similar shots only scored 3 times.

Opta stipulates that penalties have an xG rate of 0.79, which means 79 times out of 100, there will be a goal. According to Stats Perform, the xG index will change significantly from 2022, based on new factors and neural network calculations.

In contrast to MU’s ability to take advantage of extremely good opportunities, Man City players are incredibly wasteful.

Specifically, Man City finished 18 times, 9 times more than MU but still allowed the opponent to lead by one goal at the break between the two halves.

According to Sky Sports , this is the highest number of shots without scoring a goal in the Premier League of Man City under Pep Guardiola, in the first half alone.

The expected goals index (xG) of the blue shirt players after the first half was up to 2.73. Among them, only striker Erling Haaland had an xG of 1.49 goals, especially his shot from less than 3 meters into an empty goal, but he sent the ball over the bar at the end of the first half.