10 stats to sum up Romelu Lukaku's disappointing season at Chelsea

Romelu Lukaku arrived back in the Premier League in a blaze of glory last summer, returning home to Chelsea for a whopping £97.5million. The perceived wisdom was that the striker had got over his ill-fated run at Manchester United and was now a far more complete player having worked with Antonio Conte in Milan. Lukaku returned as a 28-year-old and surely far better equipped to lead the line in a title-challenging team than when he left Stamford Bridge back in 2014.

The pundits waxed lyrical after Lukaku made his second Chelsea ‘debut’ at Arsenal, with talk of the final piece of the jigsaw being fitted into Thomas Tuchel’s side ready for a proper run at Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of the Premier League. Lukaku destroyed Arsenal that day, scoring from one of his eight shots, and seemingly affirmed all the theories that were set up around his return.

Unfortunately for Lukaku and Chelsea that has proved to be a bit of a false dawn. Here’s why:
 

- Lukaku has so far scored just five Premier League goals, that’s 12 fewer and 71% less than the division’s leading scorer Mo Salah

- The five goals for Lukaku have come at a rate of one every 237 minutes played. Two of the next four players above him in terms of scoring frequency are Watford’s Ismaila Sarr and Brentford’s Yoanne Wissa who are both playing for newly-promoted sides.

- By way of comparison, Lukaku’s minutes per goal in Serie A last season for Inter was 120 as he accumulated 24 goals. This represents a near 50% drop off. A goal every 120 minutes in the Premier League this season would only be bettered by Mo Salah’s 117 minutes per goal

- In his defence, injury has slowed down the Belgian’s season - there were 74 days in between his two consecutive starts against Brentford on October 16 and Brighton on December 29.

- 60% of Lukaku’s five goals this season have come against Aston Villa, with two coming in the clash in September and a third in the return game at Villa Park in December. Lukaku didn’t score any Premier League goals in between the two Villa games, representing a goalless gap of 106 days and 433 minutes of football.

- The Premier League position of each of the teams Lukaku has scored against following the specific match is as follows: Arsenal 19th, Aston Villa 12th, Aston Villa 11th, Brighton 10th. Therefore the average post-game opposition position of team Lukaku has scored against is 13th.

- Chelsea wing-back Ben Chilwell out ranks Lukaku for average shots per game. Hakim Ziyech leads the way with 2.7, while Lukaku is joint fifth with Kai Havertz on 1.6.

- Perhaps a more systemic problem is revealed by Lukaku’s xG - his five goals from 4.5 expected goals does represent an overperformance, but Chelsea don’t focus their attack through their expensive striker. In terms of xG per 90, Mason Mount is tied with Lukaku on 0.32, while central midfielder Jorginho close on 0.30, although his number is helped by penalties.

- We can’t say Lukaku has created much for others in the absence of goals for himself. His xA of 2.05 hasn’t culminated in any of Chelsea’s 33 assists and 13 other players are ahead of him in that particular list.

- In the 12 games Lukaku has started for Chelsea they’ve picked up 22 points at a rate of 1.83 points per game. The seasonal total for Chelsea is a nice round 2 points per game, meaning a drop of 0.17 points per game when Lukaku is a starter.