The race to avoid relegation from the Premier League is hotting up, and Jake Osgathorpe highlights concerns around Crystal Palace's performances.
With just nine points separating the Premier League’s bottom nine clubs, the relegation battle is starting to get tight.
According to our data, it's the team farthest from danger on paper who could in fact be the the closest to harm.
Crystal Palace finished 12th last season and sit in exactly the same position now, but the underlying numbers tell very different stories.
From the sixth on expected points (xP) in 21/22, earning rave reviews for Patrick Vieira's transformation of Roy Hodgson’s struggling side both on the spreadsheets and the eye test, to 18th this campaign.
Palace have regressed severely. For most of last season, they were in the blue – displaying a positive expected goals (xG) process.
They’re now heavily in the orange – which isn’t good. The more orange, the worse a team is performing and for Palace, it appears to only be burning brighter.
So far, this all seems to have gone under the radar.
With five top-half opponents in their next six fixtures, it might not for much longer.
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