Trent's exquisite passing explained in numbers

There were some magnificent performances for Liverpool in their 6-3 win over Tottenham on Sunday but it was Trent Alexander-Arnold’s delightful cross to Luis Diaz that set Arne Slot’s Premier League leaders on their way to this emphatic result.

“The cross is something else,” said Gary Neville, on co-commentary for Sky Sports. “It is precision. There are very few players in Premier League history who can land it on a sixpence like that, with that level of accuracy, speed and whip. It is absolutely perfect.”

Alexander-Arnold’s crossing was a feature of the match, his four successful balls in from open play being the joint-most he has ever made in a Premier League game. In fact, it is two-and-a-half years since he last did it – also against Spurs, as it happens.

But it his passing range more broadly that makes Alexander-Arnold such a rare talent. Much has been made of the control that Slot has tried to introduce at Liverpool but their right-back remains an outlier, often looking for those riskier but more rewarding passes.

He has made the most progressive passes of any player in the Premier League this season – 205 of them – and his average pass distance is 19.1 metres, which is longer than any other Liverpool outfield player. His first thought is how to hurt the opposition.

That is clear by the number of passes that he makes breaking the back line. Alexander-Arnold averages 11.5 such passes per 90 minutes this season, ranking second only behind Kevin De Bruyne. But the Liverpool man is managing that from deeper areas.

Against Tottenham, seven of his passes bypassed six or more opponents. It is over a year since he did that in a Premier League game but it is indicative of his ability to cut through a team. There is surely no more spectacular passer of a ball in the country.

Rogers’ dribbling against Man City

“He exploded last season and this season. I think he’s a really top-class player. England have another exceptional player.” That was Pep Guardiola’s verdict after being cut apart by Morgan Rogers in Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat away to Aston Villa on Saturday.

It was perhaps the most eye-catching performance this reporter has seen in the flesh all season, bullying the reigning champions with his strength, running away from them with his speed and punishing them with his skill. He was outstanding against his old club.

He set up Jhon Duran’s opener and then scored the second himself. He has five goals and three assists in the Premier League now this season but that only hints at his role under Unai Emery.

Rogers, 22, ranks among the top 10 players in the Premier League for completed dribbles and through-balls, but what is particularly interesting is his outsized importance to Emery against what might be regarded as the toughest opposition.

He completed five dribbles against City, having also done the same against Arsenal. Rogers has not done that more than twice in any of his appearances this season against teams other than last season’s top two. Villa use him to get up the pitch in these games.

“We needed to connect,” explained Emery afterwards. “He was really doing a fantastic job in this situation. One of the qualities he showed was his drives. He did a fantastic drive, he broke the lines and we could get through him. And he scored a fantastic goal.”

There have been some suggestions that Rogers has looked tired at times this season and that would be understandable. This was the first time in a month that he has been playing at the weekend having not also appeared for Villa in a midweek game too.

Interestingly, four of Rogers’ five Premier League goals this season have come in games where he has not played a game in the previous midweek. When he is full of energy, there is simply no stopping him – as Guardiola and Manchester City found out.

Leicester’s contrasting ‘keepers

If the importance of Mads Hermansen to Leicester City was still in any doubt, the goalkeeper’s absence against Wolves underlined it as Danny Ward came in for criticism from the home support as the Foxes were beaten 3-0 at the King Power Stadium.

According to Opta, none of the three goals were ascribed to him as errors – James Justin being more obviously culpable for the second – but it was tempting to think that the hugely-impressive Hermansen could have kept out every one of the Wolves goals.

The boos for Ward were unseemly but reflect the fan frustration and the statistics support the eye test. In Hermansen, Leicester have the goalkeeper who has prevented the most goals of anyone in the Premier League so far this season – 6.44 in total.

That is partly because he has faced the second most shots of any goalkeeper in the competition, an indication in itself of how precariously placed Leicester are. With almost anyone else there, they would surely be sitting in the relegation zone already.

If Hermansen is out for any length of time, the fear is that this is where they will end up. And Leicester have been here before. The position was a problem in their 2022/23 relegation season, Ward and Daniel Iversen both struggling during that campaign.

Ward’s record that season highlights the contrast. While Hermansen is helping to prevent 0.42 goals per 90 minutes this season, Ward ranks towards the bottom among Premier League goalkeepers over the past three years – costing 0.28 goals per 90.

On average, that suggests the difference between the two could amount to two goals every three games. No wonder Leicester will be anxiously awaiting his return. The defeat to Wolves was a little unwelcome taste of how things could go without him.