Not too Xabi: The numbers behind Bayer Leverkusen’s invincible run under Alonso
Bayer Leverkusen wrapped up their first ever Bundesliga title on Sunday night as Xabi Alonso’s managerial reputation continues to grow.
Leverkusen are unbeaten in all competitions this season and here, the PA news agency looks at their record.
Invincibles
Alonso’s side lead Bayern Munich by 16 points with five games remaining after 25 wins and four draws in the Bundesliga this season.
Wins or draws against all of Borussia Dortmund, Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bochum and Augsburg would see them complete the first ever undefeated Bundesliga season – Bayern lost just one game in both the 1986-87 and 2012-13 seasons, a record in the competition.
Leverkusen are also in the DFB-Pokal final, against second-tier Kaiserslautern, and hold a 2-0 lead from the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final against West Ham.
They have not lost in those competitions either, with an overall season record of 38 wins and five draws, 123 goals scored and only 31 conceded.
Sunday’s title-clinching 5-0 win over Werder Bremen was the fifth time this season they have scored five goals – Darmstadt, third-tier Sandhausen and European opponents Qarabag and Molde the other victims – in addition to an 8-0 cup rout of fourth-tier Teutonia Ottensen.
Florian Wirtz’s hat-trick against Bremen moved him alongside Victor Boniface as the club’s leading scorer, both with 11 league goals and 17 in all competitions. Leverkusen have kept 21 clean sheets at the other end.
Arsenal’s 2003-04 team earned the title of “The Invincibles” after winning the Premier League without losing a match – Alonso’s men need to get through a further nine or 10 games to complete an “Unbesiegbar” season across all competitions.
Xabi’s X-factor
Taking over a team second-bottom of the table in October of last season, Alonso worked wonders to lead Leverkusen to a sixth-placed finish and a Europa League semi-final before breaking new ground this season.
Across his 80 games in charge to date, Alonso has 55 wins – a remarkable 68.8 per cent rate – with 15 draws and 10 defeats. His side have scored 187 goals, averaging 2.34 per match, and conceding 77 or just under a goal per game.
Alonso was linked with Tottenham last summer and with the upcoming vacancies at Liverpool and deposed Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich – both clubs he represented as a player – at the end of this season.
He has pledged his continued loyalty to Leverkusen, who will be hoping that remains the case as his stock rises.
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Mikel Arteta confirms major Arsenal injury scare ahead of Bayern Munich second leg
Martin Odegaard was taken off during Arsenal's defeat at the hands of Aston Villa
The skipper played 79 minutes before Emile Smith Rowe was brought on in his place
The Gunners face Bayern Munich in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday
By Katie Catherall
Apr 15, 2024
Odegaard picked up an injury
Odegaard picked up an injury / Catherine Ivill - AMA/GettyImages
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted club captain Martin Odegaard had to be withdrawn from Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa through injury.
The midfield star was taken off the pitch and replaced by Emile Smith Rowe in the 79th minute, with the score still at 0-0. It was the first time since October 2023 that Arteta has withdrawn his captain while the team were not winning.
Arteta was asked for his reasoning behind removing the midfielder from the game, and he provided a worrying update to the media.
"He was feeling something," Arteta said of Odegaard. "He could not continue."
Mikel Arteta
Arteta may be without his captain in Germany / Catherine Ivill - AMA/GettyImages
The Gunners boss refused to go into further detail on the matter, with no clarity over whether he will be available for Arsenal's highly-anticipated clash with Bayern in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Arteta's squad are set to head to Germany for the second leg with everything to play for, having drawn 2-2 with the Bundesliga side at the Emirates previously.
The Spanish coach affirmed after the first leg that his side would be committed to putting in a better performance in Germany, after poor defensive issues allowed Thomas Tuchel's team to slide two goals into the back of the net.
Odegaard and his teammates may be even more determined to succeed on Wednesday after a dissapointing loss against Villa saw Manchester City rise above them in the league. The Gunners now sit two points behind City and level on points with Liverpool, who also fell to a surprise loss at the hands of Crystal Palace.
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Nottingham Forest have one potential saviour – Nuno must get the best out of Morgan Gibbs-White
FotMob - April 15, 2024, 11:02 AM
One win in their last nine in all competitions, no clean sheets in two months, only out of the relegation zone by a single point, four points deducted for financial threshold breaches and two of their remaining Premier League games against Manchester City and Chelsea. It’s not an ideal time right now for Nottingham Forest, but they have one ace in the pack who can still save their season.
By Karl Matchett
Amid a rotating cast of attackers and support forwards, Morgan Gibbs-White stands alone. The former Wolverhampton Wanderers man has become a must-have player in the team, a standard-bearer of consistency in terms of his technical play, but also an aggressive, committed member of the team who is fighting for the cause and carrying out the tactical roles required of him.
Gibbs-White has, in fact, played the most league minutes this term of any Forest player, by quite some distance: a little over 2,700 to his name, with centre-back Murillo next at fewer than 2,500.
A hard-working outlet, he takes up clever spaces, receives the ball under pressure and has the vision in his game to execute both more inventive, difficult passes…And the more frequent, necessary ones too, keeping possession and allowing his team to reset after, at-times, long spells of defensive pressure.
But when it comes to surviving the battle against relegation, goals are going to be everything in Forest’s last six, and he’s the one who can provide them. Three assists and two scored in his last five attest to his form, as much as his involvement. But season-long he has been a key figure for Forest, the conduit of the team and the man around who the rest of the attack must be built.
With 61 chances created this term, it’s not hard to see why. Not only is that over double the amount of the squad’s next-highest player – Anthony Elanga has made 29 chances – it’s also comparable with some of the finest creators in the Premier League: Phil Foden has created 61, Kieran Trippier 63, Cole Palmer 52. With 12 big chances included in those, Gibbs-White is fashioning high-value scoring opportunities, too.
Combine that incisive passing with the fact he’s fourth in the team for shots per 90 minutes (2.0), second for successful dribbles (1.4) and top for expected assists (5.7, to seven actual assists) and it’s no surprise that he is the man for all types of attacks, whether he’s at the heart of fashioning them or looking to play the final ball. Unsurprisingly, Gibbs-White tops Forest’s squad list for overall FotMob rating this season (7.22) and in comparison to other players in his role, ranks at 82% for chances created in total – not bad at all considering his place in a team battling relegation.
While not a shot monster himself, Gibbs-White isn’t afraid to take on chances at goal when they are presented his way, but he understands his true value to the team has to be in creating large volumes of them for others – which also allows him to then be behind play should those efforts not pan out, able to again contribute in midfield. Notably, the 24-year-old ranks extremely highly for aerials – in the 92nd percentile for duels won among players in his role – and it’s this almost box-to-box ability to contribute where they will really need him over the coming weeks.
Gibbs-White was on the scoresheet, and perhaps poignantly, against his former club over the weekend, as Forest once again claimed a point against Wolves. It was another home game where they failed to secure back-to-back wins, though, after beating Fulham last time out at the City Ground.
Their remaining three games, aside from the two against bigger opposition, would then be against direct rivals for the drop: Everton, Sheffield United, Burnley. There is simply no question that Gibbs-White is one of the top performers out of any of those squads this season, and one of the best across the board from a technical and attacking output perspective.
Nuno’s job has to be to get the right players around him so that fewer of those chances created are spurned, and the right players behind him to both provide a platform of defensive resolve and to provide a constant supply line to him.
If Forest can do that, Gibbs-White can fashion enough goalmouth opportunities to give them a real chance of staying up…And then their toughest remaining job might be to keep him beyond summer.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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