Villa in Four Numbers: defensive efficiency, and offensive offensiveness

This week we've got a look at some defensive stats, as well as one particularly upsetting - and therefore offensive - number.

38

The percentage of Aston Villa's shots that are on-target. Listen, I understand that getting shots on target is tough, but that number is pathetic. "How bad is it," you ask? Well, Villa are the 16th-worst team in the league in terms of shot accuracy, and are closer to dead-last (West Ham at 34%) than they are to 13th (Stoke at 44%). If you're wondering why Villa have been so bad at scoring this year, it may be because they all need vision checks. That's got to be the only reason for consistently shooting so far off target, right?

1.09

The number of goals per match conceded by Brad Guzan (and by extension, Aston Villa) in the Premier League this year. Compare this to last season when the club conceded 1.82 goals per match. Want to know why you shouldn't be too worried about Aston Villa this season? This number is why. That defense is just a joy.

25

The percentage of those 12 conceded goals that have come from corners. The defense is vastly improved, but this is one area that could still use a lot of work. Last season the percentage of goals that were direct results from corners was only 15.4. (Does that seem low to anyone? I would have guessed 125% myself.)

71.4

Bear with me here, this one's a little awkward to explain. This is the percentage of matches in which Villa have allowed the opponent to score, and the opponent has scored 2 goals exactly. In other words, in the seven non-clean sheets, five times Villa has allowed precisely two goals. Of those five, Villa have won one. The conclusion to draw from this? Absolutely nothing, if we're being rigorously statistical here. But since when have we ever claimed to be doing that. No, the real conclusion is that Villa have two paths to victory: clean sheet, or scoring 3+ goals. Feast or famine, boys!