By the Numbers: DStv Premiership

What were some of the underlying DStv Premiership numbers from this week’s fixtures? Laduma Analytics takes you through the action.

Sundowns v Swallows

During the week, Rulani Mokwena became only the second PSL coach to win their first four league games in charge of Sundowns (after Antonio Lopez in 2010). Four games, 12 goals and four clean sheets is a run of any games many PSL sides can only hope for. This season, only two teams have done so (Chippa included). Last season, only three teams won four on the trot. The season before, just two. But for a coach to start his head-coach tenure with 12 points from 12 says a lot. During the week, we saw the fourth game in that run, with some pretty interesting numbers, especially in possession.

39:17 – Minutes of possession for Sundowns in this game, the most in a game this season

735 – passes attempted by Sundowns on Tuesday, their most in a league game since Pitso Mosimane left the club (a run of 74 games)

647 – successful passes by Sundowns, their second most in a league game since Pitso Mosimane left the club (652 v Sekhukhune in August’s 1-1 draw)

And it is not just futile possession. Sundowns were very intentional with the ball.

86 – entries into the opposition half in this game, their most in a league game this season

66 – entries into the opposition third in this game, their second most in a league game this season (67 v Chippa)

27 – entries into the opposition box in this game, their second most in a league game this season (28 v Stellenbsch)

They were also successful in converting the possession into chances, wrapping up the win with two quickfire goals just after the hour.

18 – shots taken by Sundowns v Swallows (their joint-most in a league game this season)

18 – shots also taken by Sundowns v Pirates in the previous game

3 – instances this season where Sundowns have taken 18 shots in a game, two of which have come in the Rulani era

Defensively, Sundowns are also stacking up positive numbers, both on the individual and the team level. An interesting pattern emerges as well in the three seasons post-Pitso, with clean sheets looking to be the foundation of their title runs.

10 – clean sheets by Sundowns this season, the joint most in the league (level with Richards Bay)

3 – the third consecutive season in which Sundowns have kept 10+ clean sheets by the halfway stage of a season (the first team to do so in PSL history)

6 – consecutive clean sheets in the league for Ronwen Williams, a first in his top-flight career

0.48 – xG created by Swallows, the lowest xG given up by Sundowns since September

SuperSport v Cape Town City

Gavin Hunt’s SuperSport kept up their good run of form, meanwhile. The last ten games have seen an impressive return of 25 points out of 30 (P8 W8 D1 L1), and they are slowly emerging as the closest challengers to Sundowns. Going into the game against Cape Town City, only one visiting team had won in 20 games at the Cape Town stadium. Gavin Hunt masterminded a controlled 1-0 victory thanks to a late Bradley Grobler goal.

13 – goals scored by SuperSport in the 2nd half of games (only Sundowns have more, 16)

16 – shots by SuperSport here, their joint-most in an away game this season (also v TS Galaxy)

7 – shots on target by SuperSport here, their most in an away game this season

Defensively, the visitors were also solid, successfully keeping their hosts at bay for the most part. The hosts’ passing network from that game shows the same, with City’s front three appearing isolated. They were never threatening except when Lyle Lakay ventured forward, with one of the league’s top attackers Khanyisa Mayo taken off quite early.

17 – shots on target by Khanyisa Mayo this season, the most of all players in the league

0 – shots on target by Mayo in this game

1 – shot on target by Cape Town City in this game, their joint-lowest in a league game all season (1 also v Maritzburg)

Pirates are the next visiting team to the Mother City, and Eric Tinkler will be praying for a better performance.