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 counts each appearance, goal, assist, penalty and clean sheet in the match it happened, then labels the opponent Top 6, Middle or Bottom 6. Completed seasons use the final table. A live season uses the table as it stands, so a result moves band if the opponent climbs or drops.

We are not Opta. The matches come from Understat. 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 Europe, South America and the big internationals, and semi-finals onwards for domestic cups (FA Cup, League Cup, Copa del Rey, DFB-Pokal, Coppa Italia, Coupe de France). That block is stored separately so the league tables stay fast.

Read the glossary for how the bands are treated. Questions: contact.