Lionesses Roar to Euros Success Again ...Middle East

Stat, Viz, Quiz is the Opta Analyst football newsletter. This week’s edition looks at England’s Euro 2025 victory, Benjamin Sesko, and League One.

It was an exciting few weeks in Switzerland as the best teams in Europe battled it out at the Women’s Euro 2025 tournament.

The final ultimately came down to a replay of the 2023 Women’s World Cup final as Spain faced England, but this time, it was the Lionesses who came out on top.

Sarina Wiegman’s side won on penalties in Basel to make it back-to-back Euros successes following their triumph on home soil in 2022, and in this week’s SVQ, we look at how well England’s Dutch coach utilised her subs on their way to the trophy.

We also have another transfer target to analyse, with Benjamin Sesko reportedly interesting both Newcastle United and Manchester United, so we’ll take gander at the Slovenian striker’s data.

Our quiz questions will test your defensive knowledge, while another subscriber wants to Ask Opta about the upcoming League One season.

If you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe below for free to receive SVQ every Tuesday.

STAT – Sarina’s Subs Seal Success

The 2022 Women’s Euros in England were magical for the hosts, with Chloe Kelly racing away celebrating her winner against Germany in the final at Wembley Stadium.

Three years later, it was Kelly again wheeling away to celebrate firing her country to victory, this time on overseas soil, but the celebrations were no smaller.

To win a tournament once, and for the first time, is one thing, but to successfully defend it is another entirely, and England proved that they are very much among the world’s elite, having also reached the Women’s World Cup final two years ago.

The team who beat them in that final, Spain, enjoyed a lot of the ball in Basel on Sunday, but struggled to break a resolute England down. Mariona Caldentey did put them ahead in the first half with a bullet header, but substitute Kelly crossed expertly for Alessia Russo to head in the equaliser in the second half.

Kelly then converted the winning penalty in the shootout, arguably making her England’s most important player in the tournament after her assist and successful shootout penalty against Sweden in the quarter-finals, her winning goal in the semis, and her major contribution in the final. Many would argue that goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was as important given her own shootout heroics.

It was fitting, really, given how well manager Sarina Wiegman used her subs that Kelly achieved all that despite not starting a single game at the tournament, with all six of her appearances coming from the bench.

It wasn’t just Kelly. Teenager Michelle Agyemang also made a big impact at Euro 2025 despite not starting once. In her four sub appearances the Arsenal striker scored twice, including a last-minute equaliser against Italy in the semis. It was enough to win her the Young Player of the Tournament award.

England substitutes were directly involved in 10 of their 16 goals in Switzerland, twice as many as any other side and the most on record (since 2013) by a team in a single edition of the competition.

It helped them to recover in games after not always starting particularly well. Wiegman’s side came back from a half-time deficit in their quarter-final, semi-final and final, more total wins/draws than any other team has achieved from a losing position at the break in knockout matches in Women’s Euros history.

In fact, England went all the way despite leading for just four minutes and 52 seconds in the entire knockout stages of the tournament (including stoppage time). The crucial thing is to be winning at the end, or be very good at penalty shootouts.

Can the Lionesses add the World Cup to their trophy cabinet in two years’ time? You’d be brave to bet against them.

VIZ – The Slovenian Isak?

Recent reports have suggested Alexander Isak may want out of Newcastle this summer. Magpies fans are hoping their Swedish star sticks around, but the club are being linked with several other strikers in this transfer window.

One of those is RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko.

Manchester United have also been credited with an interest in the Slovenian forward, but in this week’s SVQ we’ll just look at his suitability to Newcastle. Should you wish to read more on him and other strikers who could potentially end up at Old Trafford this summer, click here.

Sesko has been part of the Red Bull family since 2019, having played for Salzburg, been on loan at FC Liefering, and signing for Leipzig in 2023.

After scoring 21 goals in 55 games in the Austrian Bundesliga for Salzburg, Sesko moved to Germany where he has 40 goals in 102 games in all competitions for Leipzig. In the German Bundesliga, he has 27 goals in two seasons, along with seven assists in just under 4,000 minutes.

Last season, Sesko scored 13 goals in the Bundesliga from 68 shots and a personal xG of 9.9, with a shot conversion rate of 19.1%. Compare that with Isak, who scored 23 goals in the Premier League from 99 shots and an xG of 20.4, with a shot conversion rate of 23.2%.

However, it should be noted that Sesko is only 22. The season before Isak joined Newcastle, he scored just six goals in 32 La Liga games for Real Sociedad from 78 shots and an xG of 9.8, with a low conversion rate of 8.2%.

Obviously, that wasn’t a sign of what was to come from the Swede, but it does show that you perhaps shouldn’t judge a striker on what they do now, more what they’ll be capable of doing in future, especially at Newcastle under Eddie Howe.

Sesko has also played largely in a front two with Loïs Openda for Leipzig, so has often had to play the role of facilitator to his Belgian strike partner. Suggestions that Howe is considering playing with a front two next season could therefore mean he would be a ready-made choice for the Tyneside club.

Sesko is also very good in the air, winning 57.4% of his aerial duels in the Bundesliga last season. No forward in the German top flight won more (minimum 100 aerial duels contested).

Would he be a success in the Premier League? We’ll have to wait and see should a move transpire, but there is certainly a talented player there with room to grow, albeit perhaps not literally given he stands at around 6-foot-5.

QUIZ – Defensive Demons

This week’s quiz looks at some of the best defensive data from Premier League history. Answers at the bottom of the page.

1. What is the lowest tally of goals conceded by a team in a Premier League season?

2. Which of the six ever-present Premier League teams have conceded the fewest goals in total since the competition began in 1992?

3. Which player made the most interceptions in the Premier League last season?

4. Which player made the most clearances in the Premier League last season?

5. Which defender has played a part in the most clean sheets in Premier League history?

Ask Opta

This week’s question comes from Colin J, who asks: “I read your piece about Premier League relegations and what is the average number of points needed to avoid relegation (finish 17th). I support AFC Wimbledon and think we might struggle in League One this season so could you please let me know what the average is to stay in that division? Supposedly it’s 50 points but I think it might be more.”

Do you have a stat-based question you’d like Opta to answer in a future edition of SVQ? Email us at [email protected] or message us on X @OptaAnalyst with #AskOpta and we’ll pick the best one.

Answer:

Thanks Colin. We’ve looked at every League One season since the third tier in England has been known as such (since 2004), though we haven’t included the 2019-20 campaign as it was ended early due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As there’s four relegation spots in a 24-team division it means you need to finish 20th or higher, and the average points needed to finish 20th in the last 21 years is 49.2, so yes, it seems the threshold of 50 is about right.

There is a very clear reason why it became widely believed that you needed at least a half-century of points to stay up. In the first 15 seasons after the third tier became known as League One, there was only one instance of the team finishing 20th tallying fewer than 50 points (Walsall’s 48 points in 2010-11). That said, in none of those seasons did the team in 20th get above 52 points either.

However, the 20th-place team haven’t reached the 50-point mark in any of the last five seasons, so it seems to be a new trend that you can survive with slightly fewer. The average for the last five years is just 45.4 points. The last time a team was relegated with at least 50 points was Plymouth Argyle (50) in 2018-19.

In the 2021-22 season, Fleetwood Town managed to stay in League One despite only amassing 40 points, finishing ahead of relegated Gillingham on goal difference. That is comfortably the fewest points a team has survived with in the third tier in the last two decades.

Last season, Burton Albion only managed 47 points, pipping 21st-place Crawley Town by a single point. In fact, a season prior it was Burton in 20th-place again, with just 46 points that time, so maybe just make sure you finish above the Brewers and you’ll be fine.

If you want to see what the Opta supercomputer thinks will happen in League One in the 2025-26 season, you can find out here.

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Quiz Answers

1. What is the lowest tally of goals conceded by a team in a Premier League season?

15 (Chelsea in 2004-05)

2. Which of the six ever-present Premier League teams have conceded the fewest goals in total since the competition began in 1992?

Manchester United (1,221)

3. Which player made the most interceptions in the Premier League last season?

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (66)

4. Which player made the most clearances in the Premier League last season?

Murillo (242)

5. Which defender has played a part in the most clean sheets in Premier League history?

John Terry (214)

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Lionesses Roar to Euros Success Again Opta Analyst.

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