The La Liga Season So Far: Every Team Ranked on the Numbers

Seven games into La Liga season is enough to stop calling things a small sample and start reading them. Below is the division ranked on what teams are actually doing rather than what the table has given them for it, with every figure taken from our La Liga stats page, which covers league games only and updates as the season goes. The underlying expected-goals numbers behind much of it live on our La Liga xG table.

Two numbers frame the rest. Real Betis have taken 6.4 points more than their underlying numbers say they should have; Villarreal have 5.1 fewer. That is the widest the table has been stretched in either direction.

The clearest single case is FC Barcelona. They lead La Liga for shots at 21.43 a game and for shots inside the box at 15.57, and they are converting 20.7 per cent of them. They sit 1st.

Attacking threat

Ranked on the volume and the quality of what each side creates.

FC Barcelona lead La Liga for shots at 21.43 a game, and take 15.57 of them inside the box. They are scoring 4.43 a game from that, a conversion rate of 20.7 per cent.

FC Barcelona carve out 7 big chances a game, the most in La Liga, and convert 44.9 per cent of them. Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona leads the division's players with 9 big chances created.

FC Barcelona generate 3.67 expected goals a game and are scoring 4.43, which puts them 0.76 a game ahead of what their chances have been worth. Expected goals weight every shot by how often a chance of that type is scored, so it describes the quality of what a side is creating rather than how the finishing has gone.

FC Barcelona win 7.43 corners a game. They also hit 12.57 crosses a game, 18th of 20 in the division, which is usually the same story told twice: sides that attack down the flanks force more of both.

FC Barcelona take 15.57 shots inside the box a game, 72.7 per cent of their total. Shot location is the single biggest driver of chance quality, so this table tends to describe who is creating properly rather than shooting on sight.

Defending

Fewest is best in every table below.

FC Barcelona concede the fewest shots in La Liga at 7.29 a game. Opponents are converting 13.7 per cent of them, which still leaves 1 goals against a game and a goals-conceded rank of 3rd of 20 - a reminder that a good defence and a good goals-against column are not the same thing.

FC Barcelona give up 0.99 expected goals a game, the best figure in La Liga. They are conceding 1, close to what the chances deserve.

FC Barcelona concede 2.57 corners a game, fewest in the division and have kept 3 clean sheets in 7. Corners conceded is a decent proxy for how much sustained pressure a side absorbs.

Deportivo Alavés concede 1.14 big chances a game, and opponents are putting away 50 per cent of the ones they get. A big chance is one a striker is expected to score, so this is the table that matters most at the defensive end.

FC Barcelona allow 5.14 shots inside their own box a game, and 70.6 per cent of the shots they face come from there. Keeping opponents outside the area is most of defending.

Possession and play style

How each side plays, rather than how well.

FC Barcelona play 666.14 passes a game at 90.5 per cent completion, with 68.4 per cent of the ball. Volume and possession usually travel together; completion rate is what separates keeping the ball from moving it forward.

Athletic Club hit 21.67 crosses a game, of which 5 find a teammate - an accuracy of 23.1 per cent. A high cross count with a low accuracy is often a side with no other way through.

Espanyol commit 17.29 fouls a game, the most in La Liga, and pick up 2.86 yellow cards a game for it. A high foul count usually means a side that presses hard or breaks play up deliberately. Jon Aramburu of Real Sociedad leads the division's players at 3.77 fouls per 90 minutes.

Real Betis make 19.86 tackles a game, and 29.57 tackles and interceptions combined. Manu Sánchez of Levante makes the most of any player in the division at 4.49 per 90 minutes.

The players

Minimum 270 minutes for the shooting and creating tables, so a player needs roughly three full games to appear.

Raphinha of FC Barcelona leads La Liga with 12 goals from 25 shots, against an expected goals figure of 7.64 - 4.36 more than those chances were worth.

Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona leads for assists with 4, from 28 chances created and 9 of those big ones. Assists depend on someone else finishing, which is why chances created is the steadier measure of a creator.

Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid has taken 41 shots, more than anyone in La Liga, hitting the target with 22 and scoring 7 - a conversion rate of 17.1 per cent.

Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona has created 9 big chances, the most in La Liga, which have so far produced 4 assists. The gap between those two numbers is finishing, not creation.

What the table is hiding

Expected points take every chance a side has created and conceded and ask what a league table would look like if those chances had been taken at an average rate. The gap between that and the real table is the part of the season that has not been earned - in either direction.

None of this says the over-performers are about to collapse or that the under-performers are about to win six in a row. Finishing is a real skill and some sides out-run their numbers for a whole season.

What we can say is what we have measured. Across 1,245 fixtures we tested both halves of this idea. Sides whose results were running more than half a goal a game ahead of what their chances deserved went on to win 3.2 percentage points less often than the model rated them - a real, usable correction. Sides running the same distance behind beat their rating by only 0.8 points, which is close enough to nothing to ignore. So the tradeable half of this table is fading the teams it is flattering, not backing the ones it is punishing. That asymmetry is the single most useful thing on this page.

FAQs

Which La Liga team creates the most chances? FC Barcelona lead for shots at 21.43 a game and shots inside the box at 15.57. FC Barcelona lead for big chances created at 7 a game.

Which La Liga team has the best defence? FC Barcelona concede the fewest expected goals at 0.99 a game and the fewest shots at 7.29, after 7 games.

Who is La Liga top scorer this season? Raphinha of FC Barcelona with 12 goals. Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona leads for assists with 4.

Which La Liga teams are over-performing? Real Betis have 6.4 points more than their chances deserve; Villarreal have 5.1 fewer. Our own testing says the tradeable side of that gap is fading the over-performers rather than backing the under-performers.