Football has its own spectacle just now --- where angry old pro pundits rail against the number crunchers of the modern game.

Welcome to the xG factor.

It began on a Saturday night back at the start of the season when Match of the Day quietly introduced the statistic of ‘expected goals’ as part of the analysis of the day’s Premier League action.

My guess is that most football fans didn’t bother too much about this.

The minority who already appreciated there was value in knowing about a club’s expected goals (xG) figure were happy to see it highlighted on Match of the Day.

The vast majority couldn’t have cared less, and had absolutely no curiosity in finding out --- until now.

Now, you have to know --- because in the past few days it has become a battleground of football thanks to Sky presenter Jeff Stelling’s rant against Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for citing xG figures in defence of his team.

A couple of weeks ago Manchester City beat Arsenal 3-1 in a contentious match. Wenger explained that his team had done well and pointed to the expected goals’ figures of 0.7 for City and 0.6 for the Gunners to suggest it had been a close encounter.

“It’s the daftest thing,” said Stelling in a noisy outburst the other day.

“He’s the first person I’ve ever heard take notice of expected goals, which has to be one of the most useless stats in the history of football.

“What does it tell you? The game has finished 3-1. Why do you show expected goals afterwards? It’s absolute nonsense. If he really believes that... Well, I don’t think he can.”

But Wenger does believe. He truly believes, and with good reason.

The truth is that expected goals, the xG figures, are seriously useful and interesting. They are very far from nonsense --- because they tell us much more about a football team than the usual diet of shots on target and how much possession a side had in a match.

Why?

At its heart, xG is an indicator of the quality of goal-scoring chances created by a team, an indicator of actual performance level.

The higher a team’s xG figure, the more likely they are to score and do well during a season.

No surprise that Manchester City are top of this particular table, but it says Liverpool are second above Manchester United and Arsenal in third and fourth.

Where does it come from? Well, it is delivered by the Opta statistical firm who have analysed more than 300,000 shots in previous matches to provide an accurate tool for assessing the quality of goal chances.

Believe me, every club in the Premier League has long been aware of xG and understands its value.

It’s not even new. xG has been around for five years, but only this season introduced to the wider public on Match of the Day, and then with little fanfare.

If you get past the instinctive Stelling-like mistrust of something that sounds different and dull, ‘expected goals’ really are worth the bother.

xG applies to individual players as well as teams. England and Spurs star Harry Kane, for example, has scored many more goals in the past three years than his xG figure --- than what might have been expected.

It shows that Kane consistently turns chances into goals in a way that other players do not, and detailed analysis reveals that he did this even before he broke into the first team.

Is it any wonder that Tottenham trusted in his talent? And do you still think number crunching of data in football is worthless?

Scepticism about the use of statistical analysis was swept away inside Premier League clubs long ago. It is three years since Arsenal bought the statDNA company to prevent others benefiting from its work.

One area of particular importance is transfers. Analytics provide huge insight to complement the football knowledge and instinct of scouts, and they help with crucial assessments on value for money.

Of course that matters.

Arsenal fans, players and manager were jubilant last weekend with a strong 2-0 victory against local rivals Spurs. Even more important to the long-term health of the club was the midweek news that Sven Mislintat will join next month as head of recruitment.

Sven who?

He is the 45-year-old super scout known as Diamond Eye in his native Germany, where he has been the brains behind brilliant signings for Borussia Dortmund like Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 

It was a huge coup for Arsenal.

Diamond Eye is a staunch advocate of using and interpreting the numbers of modern football. He believes in the xG factor on a Saturday afternoon.

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EVERTON striker Oumar Niasse is the first Premier League player to be banned for two matches after retrospective disciplinary action for diving in a match.

Predictably, his club are furious with the decision, although you have to suspect that had an opposition player won a penalty against them with a similar easy plunge to the turf, Everton would have felt mighty aggrieved.

Neutrals will applaud the suspension for Niasse.

Football needs to fight back against the curse of ‘diving’, and to stop the pretence that the slightest contact is good reason to claim a foul.

Listen to the words of Niasse about the incident against Crystal Palace last weekend: “The contact was on my upper body but when I felt the contact, I was in the box, so that is it. That is all I have to do --- go on the floor.”

Many modern players would have done exactly the same as Niasse. Perhaps a few will think again now.

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WHENEVER a batsman is run out, as with James Vince on the opening day of The Ashes, there is always the benefit of hindsight to judge that it was a needless risk and a foolish way to be dismissed.

But run outs aren’t the worst way to lose your wicket in a Test match, as some reports from Brisbane argued.

Playing no shot and being trapped leg before is far more culpable, for example. And taking sharp singles to put pressure on the fielding side is always an important aspect of batting.

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SO many experts have joined the queue to say that Liverpool striker Mo Salah is the best signing of the season, it feels almost a heresy to disagree.

But dissent we must.

The most influential new player, without doubt, has been Manchester City’s brilliant goalkeeper Ederson; the rock on which all else is built.