We have a number of articles that focus on shots, goals, and teams on attack. But having your team keep the ball out of your own net is arguably just or more important than scoring. After just three games, Tottenham’s Vicario has already saved 2.2 goals above expectation.

In this short article, we focus on some high level goalkeeper results in the English Premier League after the first three matches of the 2025-2026 season.

What Is PSxG and Why It Matters for Goalkeepers?

A main area we’re going to focus on is PSxG or post-shot expected goals. We’ve focused quite a bit previously on xG, that is expected goals, or a probability given to each shot that the expected outcome will result in a goal.

Similar to xG, PSxG is expected goals based on how likely the goalkeeper is to save the shot. PSxG is calculated after a shot has been taken, after it is known whether the shot is on target or not.

PSxG is expected goals based on how likely the goalkeeper is to save the shot.

All shots that are off target have a PSxG of zero, since there is a 0% chance that an off-target shot will result in a goal. By filtering out the off-target shots and assigning probabilities of expected goals post-shot, we’re able to see if a goalkeeper is over or underperforming when compared to the expected value.

Just as we recently looked at Manchester United’s attacking metrics, defensive numbers like PSxG given another lens on performance.

Premier League PSxG Leaders and Laggards After 3 Matches

When looking at PSxG for the first three games of the Premier League season, West Ham have the highest at 7.1

Meaning that based on the shots West Ham have received, it is expected that they would have been scored against 7.1 times. When we measure the PSxG against the actual number of goals against, we have an insight into the performance of the goalkeeper.

The average PSxG against per squad so far in the Premier League season is 3.77 and Chelsea have the lowest at 0.7. They are the only team to have a PSxG below 1.0.

Comparing PSxG and Goals Conceded: Keeper Performance

Now, when we compare the post shot expected goals against for each squad against the actual goals against, we can measure the performance of the goal keeper.

PSxG +/- provides an insight into a goalkeepers performance. The metric outlines if a keeper is saving or conceding more goals than expected.

We should note that after three matches played in the Premier League, all teams have played only one goalkeeper, except Aston Villa. Marco Bizot has played two games for Villa so far, while Emiliano Martinez has played one game.

Tottenham have the highest PSxG +/- meaning, when taking their post shot expected goals and subtracting their actual goals against, they have the highest.

That value is +2.2, meaning their keeper, Vicario, has saved Tottenham from 2.2 goals that we would expect the average goal keeper to concede.

At the other end of the spectrum are Wolves, who have a -2.2 PSxG +/- which is the worst in the league. Wolves’ PSxG is 5.8 after three matches played in the Premier League but they have conceded 8 goals.

The graph below outlines the PSxG +/- for all squads in the Premier League, again after only the first three matches.

Historical Context: PSxG +/- in the 2024/25 Season

To put these values in perspective, after the 24-25 Premier League season, the highest PSxG +/- was Bournemouth with +8.8 (Kepa Arrizabalaga played 31 of 38 matches last season. The lowest was Ipswich Town with a -6.4 rating followed closely by Wolves who had a -6.3 rating.

As a reminder, Ipswich was relegated last season and the newly promoted teams have already faced some tough tests on goal

So while there is plenty of football left to be played, it gives you an insight into which goalkeepers have been underperforming or overperforming for their clubs. It will be interesting to see how these values evolve over the course of the 25-26 Premier League season.

Summary and Key Takeaways: Early 2025/26 Goalkeeper Performance

Well, that’s it for this article. In this post, we took a quick look at goalkeepers and more specifically, the PSxG and PSxG +/-. PSxG stands for post shot expected goals and it measures the expected number of goals that the average goal keeper would concede.

It differs from regular xG in that it is post shot, meaning all shots that are off target are removed. It focuses solely on the expected outcome of all shots on goal and what the likelihood a goalkeeper is to save it.

As seen above and after three matches of the 25-26 Premier League season, West Ham have the highest PSxG while Chelsea have the lowest. We also compared the PSxG statistics to the actual number of goals conceded.

In this metric, Wolves have been underperforming (conceding more goals than expected) and Tottenham lead the league (conceding less goals than expected).

What are your thoughts on your club’s keeper situation? Do you have faith in the man in between the posts so far this season or do you see the goal keeping department as an issue moving forward for the season? Leave us a comment below and let us know your thoughts.

Stay tuned for future posts and please send us a message if there is a specific topic you would like to see covered. Additionally, if you have any ideas on how to improve these articles, please send them our way too.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read these posts!

JC

All data in this article is from fbref.com so, thanks to them!