Despite losing their last game in the FA Trophy, Scunthorpe have won four of their last five league games and sit 6th in the National League. Southend sit just below them in 8th place and have won two of their last five games.
Andy’s Bet Club’s football analyst will break down Southend’s recent clash with Rochdale to see what the statistics indicate about how they might set up against Scunthorpe.
Rochdale vs Southend United
Rochdale were the dominant side in this fixture with more possession, more shots and had a better xG (expected goals) of 1.32 compared to Southend’s 0.53.
Despite three goals being scored in the game, both teams’ quality in front of goal was quite poor with both having a lower Post-shot xG (psxG) compared to their xG. Rochdale had a psxG of 0.54 and Southend were at 0.42.
Both sides tried to retain possession by keeping the ball on the ground and limiting the number of longer passes. The home side had a long pass percentage of 7% whilst Southend had a long pass percentage of 9%.
Final Thoughts
Southend are sitting 10th when it comes to goals scored this season but the xG stats show that they are creating a lot of goalscoring chances in their games. They have scored 44 goals so far but have a total xG of 53.76 which is the 3rd best in the league.
Southend have also kept things tight at the back this season, only conceding 0.97 goals per game which is the 2nd best in the league. They have also been dominant in the air and have only conceded from one headed goal so far.
Scunthorpe have regularly played a 4-2-3-1 so far this season, but it will be interesting to see if they make any tactical adjustments to combat the 5-3-2 that Southend have played for the majority of the campaign, and will likely do so again in this one.
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