LONDON -- Fifty three minutes gone at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal nerves beginning to fray as Leeds United probed for an opener and Noni Madueke slides a pass to no one in particular. The home faithful take up the groan with gusto. It had felt for quite some time now that they were on a hair trigger with their left winger.
That one (very bad) action made clear that that was the case. No one should expect fans in the stadium to keep a running tally of every action by every player. That's for the nerds in the press box who are glued to spreadsheets while the best athletes on earth are showcasing their wares within spitting distance.
However, it's fair to ask if more allowances might have been made for Madueke if someone had offered a printout of his analytics at the interval. That misplaced pass was only the second of 24 Madueke had attempted that did not find their target. By the final whistle, the winger, a surprise inclusion in the starting lineup following the injury of Christos Tzolis during the international break, led Arsenal in a raft of key categories: progressive carries, attacking third touches, penalty box touches, line-breaking passes received, chances created, expected assists, the list really could go on.
No wonder that the stats that try to aggregate everything a player does on the ball utterly adored Madueke. Opta's model, which measures the probability that any on-ball action will result in a goal in the next 10 seconds, gave Arsenal an overall expected possession value (xPV) of 1.22. Madueke made up 0.6 of that.
In terms of individual xPV, only eight players have had better games in the Premier League this season. Among Madueke's highest value actions was, of course, the precise cross to the back post, flicked back into the danger area by Ben White for Riccardo Calafiori to turn in an equalizer the faltering champions desperately needed. A low cutback from the byline in the direction of Declan Rice on the penalty spot, only cut out by a diving Ethan Ampadu; the model loved that, as it did the cross that Kai Havertz directed into James Trafford's arms.
Madueke might have ended this game on the same underwhelming grand total of nine goals and four assists from 49 Arsenal games, but he could leave the pitch confident that he had boosted his chances of carving out a more significant role in the weeks ahead. Certainly his boss seemed impressed. "I'm really happy with him because he deserves the chance that he got," said Arteta.
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