Opta Vision is our latest innovation. Let us show you around the best insights it can help us glean from the Premier League 2024-25 season.
At Opta, we are always looking for new ways to innovate our data and improve our metrics. For 2025, step in Opta Vision, the latest expansion to our offering, which has been used by pro teams for the past few seasons but is now available for you to see.
Opta Vision combines event and tracking data to add the context of all 22 players’ locations to every action on the pitch. This enables us to deliver brand new insights at a deeper level than ever before.
Having gone back through the 2024-25 Premier League season with these extra superpowers, we are now able to provide fresh insights from the past campaign.
Here, we summarise the best of those findings to illustrate precisely what Opta Vision can help show us, and how it can improve the analysis of football that our data provides.
Newcastle Love Overlaps, Spurs Prefer Underlaps
These runs don’t need much explaining. Overlaps are runs around the outside of the ball carrier (nearer the touchline); underlaps are runs on the inside of the ball carrier (nearer the middle of the pitch). For the most part, these are the work of full-backs, so it is the teams that asked the most of their full-backs in the Premier League last season that naturally had the most activity when it came or overlaps and underlaps.
It turns out that Newcastle and Tottenham placed the greatest demands on their full-backs, with Newcastle’s players making 277 overlapping off-the-ball runs, which was at least 79 more than any other team. Spurs, meanwhile, made more underlapping runs than any other side, with 259, which was 37 more than anyone else.
When adding up both overlaps and underlaps, Newcastle (498) and Spurs (413) come out on top, clearly showing that they had the most active full-backs in the whole league.
Given Manchester City have so much of the ball, it is perhaps surprising to find out that only Ipswich Town (176) made fewer overlapping or underlapping runs than Pep Guardiola’s side (202). They were miles behind everyone else for overlaps, with just 76 all season – an average of just two per game – but that is explained by the fact that City didn’t really use traditional full-backs. Their width is provided by the wide forwards, and Opta Vision proves that those players were rarely supported by other runners.
The Hidden Value of Fernández and Núñez
Given you’re on our website, you will presumably have heard of expected goals. You may also know about expected assists. And you may even know all about expected goals on target.
You may not yet have heard of expected threat, but don’t panic; if you understand any of the above terms then xT is very easy to grasp.
Expected threat measures the chance of a shot being taken within the next 10 seconds from any position on the pitch. xT can be used to measure how effectively players move the ball, with a pass, carry or cross, for example.
That is, by comparing the difference in the chance of a shot being taken before a player’s on-ball action with the chance afterwards, we can see how well they increase the chances of their team threatening goal.
We can now use Opta Vision to assess how threatening every single Premier League player’s runs are. In other words, we can track the movement of every player, and look at the difference in expected threat between the start and end position of their runs to work out who adds the most value with their off-the-ball movement.
Some of the findings are fascinating.
According to the xT added between the start and the end of his runs, Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernández added more threat of a shot to his team’s moves than any other player in the Premier League last season, with 46.1 xT added. He is a long, long way ahead of second place in this regard, with Cole Palmer next, on 39.2 xT.
When adjusting these numbers to work out who makes the most threatening individual runs, meanwhile, Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones comes out top of the pile, with 0.072 xT added on average per run. He is only just ahead of teammate Darwin Núñez, who is often criticised for failing to score enough goals, but is often said to create “chaos” with his constant movement. With Opta Vision, we are able to put a number on just how valuable his runs are.
What this doesn’t take into account is whether or not these players are found by a teammate. There’s still value in threatening runs even if they are not found, because off-the-ball movement will distract defenders and may well create space, but if the ball doesn’t actually make it to the player making the run (or if it isn’t at all realistic that they will be found), then the xT isn’t actually increased.
Perhaps Chelsea and Liverpool could try to find Fernández and Núñez more often next season…
Arsenal Were the Premier League’s Most Compact Team
We all know how good Arsenal’s defence is. The obvious numbers speak for themselves: they conceded fewer goals than anyone else in the Premier League last season (34).
And while some of that was down to the fine work of Golden Glove winner David Raya, it was mainly a result of the combination of Mikel Arteta’s tactics and the players’ ability to put his plans into action.
Opta Vision data tells us that Arsenal spent 47.0% of the time they were defending against a team in the build-up phase last season in a state of what we call “high compactness.”
Compactness measures the area of the pitch that the outfielders on the defending team are covering. High compactness means the players are closer together and covering a smaller area, specifically an area of less than 600 square metres.
Only relegated sides Ipswich and Leicester, who didn’t have the players to be more expansive, spent more of their 2024-25 in a defensive shape of high compactness. Doing so clearly didn’t work for them.
Meanwhile, only a few teams spent a higher proportion of the time when the opposition were in the build-up phase in a low block than Arsenal (21.2%).
Arsenal used a low block for 61.1% of the time that Manchester City were building up when they travelled to the Etihad back in September, which was the third-highest proportion by any team in a Premier League game last season. Away to the defending champions and down to 10 men for the whole second half, it was understandable that they dropped back so much.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work for them on that day, as they conceded a 98th-minute equaliser, and their compact defence wasn’t enough to win them the title either. Will they be tempted to attack a little more next season?
Chelsea Were the Most ‘Open’ Team
Extreme compactness isn’t a necessary component of a team with a good defensive record, though. In fact, Chelsea, who had the third-best defence in the Premier League last season, shipping just 43 goals, spent less time in a state of high compactness (26.7%) when up against a team in the build-up phase than any other team.
Enzo Maresca’s side spent more of their time defending in a state of low compactness – meaning their outfielders covered an area above 900 square metres – than any other team (30.1%). That’s not to say they were actually wide open all of the time; they just weren’t as compact as any other team in the league.
They didn’t press particularly intensely, ranking sixth for pressures in the final third (67.6 per game), or particularly effectively, ranking ninth for high turnovers (8.0).
Instead, Chelsea adjusted depending on the situation, and their high line was effective, with only Liverpool (96) and Aston Villa (93) catching their opponents offside more times than them (88). Chelsea’s mixed defensive approach worked well for them last campaign.
Damsgaard and Two Brunos Were the Most Incisive Passers
With Opta Vision, we can look deeper into passing patterns, now able to ascertain how many lines of the opposition’s shape were broken by each pass.
Bruno Fernandes is a name we’d expect to find high up in these metrics, and he did indeed play more passes that broke through the opposition’s defensive line than any other player in the top flight (89). His total was 18 higher than any other player which, given he was playing for an underperforming Manchester United side, is particularly impressive.
But it was two other, perhaps more surprising names, who also stand out.
Firstly, fellow Bruno, Newcastle midfielder Guimarães, played more line-breaking passes into the opposition’s penalty area than any other player in the league (53). Being able to find a teammate that close to goal with a pass that takes several opposition players out of the game is an extremely valuable skill.
Fernandes (58) and Guimarães (52) ranked first and second for line-breaking passes leading to shots, but Brentford midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard beat both of them for line-breaking passes leading to goals, with eight.
Youri Tielemans also deserves a mention for how he affects play while under pressure. The Aston Villa midfielder topped the Premier League last season for line-breaking passes made while under pressure from at least one opponent (270) and line-breaking passes made while under intense pressure (216).
Jones and Lewis-Skelly Excelled Under Pressure
Young players are only ever going to succeed when playing for big teams like Liverpool and Arsenal if they can deal with pressure, and Opta Vision can reveal just how well Curtis Jones and Myles Lewis-Skelly perform when under duress.
We can use tracking data to calculate the number of passes every player made in the Premier League last season when under what we would call “intense pressure”. That is when at least one opponent is within two metres of the player on the ball.
Of the 215 players who played at least 300 passes under intense pressure in the top flight in 2024-25, Jones had the highest pass completion rate, successfully finding a teammate with 92.8% of his passes. Very few players maintain such a high success rate regardless of opponent pressure over an entire season, let alone when just looking at pressured situations.
Lewis-Skelly, it should be remembered, only broke into the Arsenal team last September and is still only 18 years old. The way he has adapted to life in the first team is genuinely amazing.
His pass completion when under pressure also speaks to a player unfazed by the level at which he is suddenly playing. Only Jones completed more of his passes under intense pressure in the Premier League last season than the Arsenal teenager (92.6%).
Meanwhile, there are nine players from the aforementioned group of 215 whose pass completion rate actually improved when under intense pressure. Mohamed Salah saw the biggest increase, at 1.2%, while Alex Iwobi attempted the most passes among that group, with 765 while under pressure, completed at a rate of 80.0%.
Another Reason Spurs Signed Kudus?
Linked to the above analysis of the playing style of Tottenham’s full-backs, Spurs used overloads more than any other team in the Premier League in 2024-25. Overloads are defined as when there is a mismatch in the number of players from each team “near” the ball. We are only interested in “in-possession” overloads, where the mismatch sees more in-possession team players near the ball than the out-of-possession players.
In this instance, we’re also only concerned with the progressive play phase, which is when a team advances the ball with attacking intent and gets into a position on the pitch where the ball is closer to the opposition goal than the middle point of the defending team’s players. Comparing all Premier League teams last season while in the progressive play phase, Spurs spent more of their time on the ball while creating an overload than any other team (5.1%).
It was also the case that Spurs had the worst dribble success rate of all teams in the top flight (39.0%), so it follows that they required overloads to get past opponents more than anyone else, because their individual players were less able to beat a defender with a dribble than those of all other teams. Whether by design or out of necessity, Spurs required more players in attacking areas than other teams.
That unbalanced the team. They conceded 65 goals in 38 games and were caught far too open far too often. They may see signing Mohammed Kudus, one of the Premier League’s best dribblers, as a possible solution to this problem. Being able to give the ball to an attacker without the need for another player to make an overlap or underlap, or create an overload, could in turn make them more solid at the back.
Salah Will Feel Alexander-Arnold’s Absence More Than Anyone Else
For all of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s much-discussed shortcomings as a defender, there’s no question that he adds huge value to whatever team he plays for through the magic he can produce when he gets on the ball.
And following his departure for Real Madrid this summer, nobody will feel his absence at Liverpool more than Mohamed Salah.
Salah has just had the most impactful individual season by any player in Premier League history, breaking the record for goal involvements in a 38-game campaign and equalling the record in 42-game seasons, with an almighty 47.
And a vast proportion of his service came from right-back. Alexander-Arnold played more line-breaking passes to Salah than any other combination of players in the Premier League in 2024-25, with 146 – some 39 ahead of anyone else (Josko Gvardiol to Jérémy Doku – 107).
They led the way for passes breaking both exactly one line of the opposition’s shape (123) as well as those breaking two lines (20), while only the Brighton combination of Jan Paul van Hecke to Kaoru Mitoma produced more passes that broke three lines of the opposition’s shape (five) than Trent played to Salah (three).
Alexander-Arnold put Salah in behind the opposition’s back line more times (37) than any other combination, and also into the penalty area with a line-breaking pass the most times, too (13). No combination played more line-breaking passes that led to their team having a shot, either (18).
Salah will hope that he can prove he doesn’t need Alexander-Arnold to hit the heights he did last season.
Mbeumo’s Relentlessness
There are many reasons United (finally) decided to meet Brentford’s asking price and sign Bryan Mbeumo, his goals and assists being the main ones.
His relentless running is another. The Cameroonian never stops.
He started every single Premier League game for Brentford last season, and was subbed off just three times. And he consistently ran himself into the ground, constantly giving the opposition’s left-back a headache with his persistent movement.
He made more runs in behind the opposition when his team had the ball than anyone else in the Premier League last season (418), while he made more runs while sprinting (462) than any other attacker, with only full-backs Daniel Muñoz (466) and Antonee Robinson (463) making more – and they only just beat him. In total, only Muñoz (960) made more off-the-ball runs all season than Mbeumo (891).
Staying fit enough to play an entire season is impressive enough. Doing so while putting in so much work is quite another.
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