Recently, Liverpool's ability to seize opportunities in front of goal is unbearable, and the authoritative data agency OPTA has listed a set of statistics on Liverpool's goal conversion rate (goal conversion rate = goals / shots), which is shared as follows:
• Liverpool's goal conversion rate in 31 Premier League games this season is 11.5 per cent, lower than the two major title rivals Manchester City (12.7 per cent) and Arsenal (14.5 per cent). In fact, in the top half of the Premier League as a whole, only Manchester United (10.2 per cent) and Brighton (11 per cent) have a lower goal conversion rate than Liverpool.
--In Liverpool's last three Premier League games (2-1 Brighton, 3-1 Sheffield United, 2-2 Manchester United), Liverpool have scored 7 goals in a total of 87 shots, with a goal conversion rate of only 8%.
Despite this, Liverpool remain the second-highest scoring team in the Premier League this season (72, behind Arsenal with 75). Liverpool have taken a total of 629 shots in the Premier League this season, 70 more than the second-most Manchester City (559) and 112 more than Arsenal (517). If compared to Newcastle, who are currently eighth in the Premier League, Liverpool had 197 more shots on goal, but only scored seven more goals.
--Liverpool's average expected goals per shot (xG) in the Premier League this season is 0.11, which is the same as Manchester City and only 0.01 fewer than Arsenal.
-- But the actual goals of Manchester City and Arsenal were much higher than expected. Arsenal actually scored 12.7 more goals than expected, Manchester City added seven, while Liverpool scored just 0.2 more, with 11 Premier League teams outperforming Liverpool in this statistic.
-- In the last three seasons, Liverpool have scored more than expected goals for most of the season, except in the middle of last season. In the last Premier League game against Manchester United, Liverpool's actual goals were 1.67 lower than expected goals.
--Looking at Klopp's nine Premier League seasons at Liverpool, Liverpool are averaging 20.3 shots per game so far this season, more than any previous season. The previous record was 19.2 shots per game in the 2021-22 season.
-- In the 2018-19 season and the championship-winning 2019-20 season, Liverpool averaged the lowest shots per game in the two seasons of the Scum era, at 15.1 and 15.6 respectively. But those two seasons were the two seasons with the highest goal conversion rate for Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, at 15.5 per cent and 14.4 per cent respectively.
--Liverpool's Premier League goal conversion rate is only 11.5% this season, and in all full seasons in charge, it was only in 2020-21 (11.2%).
- Still, Liverpool's 88 goals in 38 games this season will surpass the 2019-20 title season (85) and just below the 2018-19 (89) and 2021-22 (94) based on current shots per game and goal conversion rate.
• Jota has missed six Premier League games for Liverpool since mid-February, with Liverpool scoring 13 goals from 157 shots in those six games, with a goal conversion rate of 8.3 per cent and 3.4 fewer goals than expected.
- Of Liverpool's top five, Jota has a goal conversion rate of 25% (9 goals from 36 attempts) and is off a cliff ahead.
- Mohamed Salah has converted 18.7 per cent of goals in the Premier League this season (17 goals from 91 attempts) but has converted just 11.5 per cent (3 goals out of 26) since his return to the Africa Cup of Nations.
- The goal conversion rate of the other three strikers was Gakpo 13.3% (6 goals from 45 attempts), Nunez 11% (11 goals from 100 attempts) and Dias 10% (8 goals from 80 attempts). It should be noted that Gakpo spent about a quarter of his game in midfield.
--Jota is also the only striker in Liverpool to have scored more goals than expected goals (4.4 expected goals, 9 goals actually scored), while Salah, Gakpo, Dias and Nunez have scored 0.9, 0.3, 2.3 and 3.9 fewer goals than expected goals, respectively.
--Seeing Liverpool's recent frequent squandering of goalmouth opportunities, many Liverpool fans have begun to miss Mane and Firmino. Mane has converted 18.6 per cent of goals in the Premier League during his time at Liverpool and Roberto Firmino's 14.3 per cent, with only Jota and Salah among Liverpool's top five strikers having a higher conversion rate this season.
• Compared to their title rivals, no Arsenal striker this season has been able to convert goals more than Jota and Salah, with the highest being Leandro Trossard at 17.8 per cent (eight goals from 45). Arsenal actually scored far more goals than expected, mainly due to the fact that there were more goals from set-pieces.
-- As for Manchester City, Haaland has a 19.6% Premier League goal conversion rate this season (19 out of 97), Alvarez 9.3% (8 out of 86) and Doku 5.1% (2 out of 39). City are second only to Erling Haaland in terms of goals, with a goal conversion rate of 15.6 per cent (14 out of 90).
--Since Liverpool have struggled to find one win in seven Premier League meetings with Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United this season (five draws, two defeats), two goals against Manchester City 27 with a goal conversion rate of 7.4 per cent, two goals against Arsenal 23 with a goal conversion rate of 8.7 per cent, one goal against Tottenham Hotspur 12 with a goal conversion rate of 8.3 per cent, and two goals against Manchester United 62 with a goal conversion rate of 3.2 per cent, both below Liverpool's season average (11.5 per cent). Of those seven goals, two came from penalties.