Chelsea’s Five Best Creators This Season

As we enter the international break, it offers us a chance to catch up on the season that’s been so far. In this, we will be diving into the numbers and looking at the top five creators for Chelsea this season. This will be based not on per 90 stats but by their npXG +xAG for the campaign so far. There are some expected names and some that might be a surprise to fans.

Top Five Chelsea Creators This Season

Alejandro Garnacho

A late arrival in the transfer window has seen the former Manchester United man make a slower start to life in London.  This has limited him to just 529 minutes across all competitions so far, compared to the over 1,000 of someone else on this list.

Despite that disadvantage, Alejandro Garnacho has been the fifth-best producer for the club based on his expected goals/assists with 3.5.  He’s outperforming this as well with four in total, meaning he is not only generating chances for himself and others but they are being taken at a good rate.

Pedro Neto

As someone with over 1,000 minutes across all competitions, Pedro Neto has been able to wrack up the expected goal contributions. With a total of 4.1 across the season he has also had an overperformance with five actual contributions. He has been pretty consistent on both fronts with 2.2 xG and 1.9 xAG.

Estevao Willian

Another player who is limited by his minutes. The Brazilian star has been eased into life in England by the manager with 662 minutes to his name so far. In that time he has looked like a real threat, managing the third-highest goal creation numbers in the entire squad, despite having only half the minutes of the top two.

His 4.0 xG is a strong indicator of his ability to create chances for himself, most of these are coming off the dribble instead of being made for him. He is also capable of making chances for his teammates with 2.1 xAG being the fourth highest of the squad. At 5.3 total npXG+xAG he is a clear attacking threat.

Joao Pedro

Playing as the striker or the number 10 for most of the season has allowed Joao Pedro to get into space to create plenty of chances for himself and others. A 3.8 npXG is the second highest in the entire team with him adding in a 2.5 xAG. At a 6.3 total, he is over one expected goal contribution ahead of third-placed Estevao but still trails the squad leader.

Enzo Fernandez

This has been the season of Enzo Fernández. He is benefiting more than anyone from the absence of Cole Palmer, being given the freedom to act as the main box crashing presence. He has a whopping 7.5 expected goal contributions (non-pen) with his 3.2 xAG created being completely misused as he only has one singular assist all season so far. With better finishers around him, his numbers would no doubt improve.

While he has been creating really well, he’s also been one of the best goalscoring presences, popping up in good positions to get shots away at goal, totalling 4.2 npXG, and performing on average there with four goals to his name so far. This has been a strong campaign for the midfielder as we are seeing the best of him.