Why the opponent matters

Ten goals is not one story. A striker who scores against the sides who finished in the top six is doing different work to one who feasts on the bottom six. Keepers who steal points against the best attacks are doing different work to those who pad clean sheets in May.

AverageOpposition takes official league totals — appearances, goals, penalties, assists, clean sheets (GK and DF) — and splits them by who the opponent actually was: Top 6, Middle, Bottom 6. Completed seasons use the final table. A live season uses the table going into the match, skipping gameweek 1 because everyone is on zero.

We are not Opta. Season totals come from Understat. The band split is reconstructed from real match results, not event-level tagging. League games only on the boards — no cups, no Europe, no friendlies.

Player pages also carry Other Big Games at the bottom: quarter-finals through the final in the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, World Cup and Euros. That block is stored separately so the league tables stay fast.

Read the glossary for how bands, GW1 and promoted clubs are treated. Questions: contact.