20 May, 2026
Expected Goals — otherwise known as xG — is now a widely accepted part of professional football. But only a few years ago, the term enraged some of the sport's more old-school, data-skeptical pundits (for example, Craig Burley, who described xG as "nonsense" on ESPN in 2016).
To this day, there remains plenty of confusion about exactly how xG is used in football, and why it's relevant. This article will explain how it applies to penalty...