Antoine Semenyo is one of the most targeted players in the English Premier League. The 23-year-old Ghanaian forward plays for EFL Championship side Bristol City. He began his career at Bristol City in 2018 and has made 111 league appearances for the club. The attacker made a name for himself by performing well in recent seasons. Now, some Premier League clubs like Southampton and Bournemouth are chasing the youngster. These teams are battling relegation and need a striker who could help them in their cause. Below are some of the stats of Semenyo that could lead him to the English top division.
Antoine Semenyo plays as a centre-forward for his side. He has made 22 appearances for Bristol City in the EFL Championship but has failed to become a regular starter at the club. Of these 22 appearances, he has started only ten matches. The 23-year-old has netted five goals in these many appearances and also has three assists to his name. The pizza chart above shows that Semenyo has played 47% of the available minutes for Bristol City in the current season. This chart also compares the percentile rank of the forward with other forwards in the league. It can be observed that the player is ranked highly for taking touches inside the opposition penalty box and also for attempting dribbles. The other area where he has excelled is in contesting aerial duels. The heatmap of the player shows the high-intensity areas. It can be observed that Semenyo likes to cover a lot of areas in the final third. He likes to go wide as well as get inside the opposition’s penalty box.
Improvements in front of the goal
One of the primary reasons behind a possible transfer is a massive improvement in the goal-scoring ability of the player. In his first 79 appearances, the player scored six goals. In the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons combined, he has 13 goals in 53 appearances.
The 23-year-old striker scored eight goals in 31 league appearances last season. He averaged 2.61 shots per 90 minutes and had a 38.8% accuracy rate. The above viz shows the shot map of the player. Semenyo scored six goals from inside the penalty box and two from outside. He usually targets the bottom corner and takes his shots from different areas of the penalty box. The player also averaged 4.13 touches per 90 minutes inside the opposition’s penalty box.
This season, the average number of shots per 90 minutes has gone down to 2.19, but the accuracy rate has gone up to 45.2%. However, there is a bit of improvement in the xG rate of the player. The 23-year-old has taken his maximum shots from inside the penalty box and mostly from the right side.
The creative side
One of the best attributes of the player is to win his dribbles on the flanks and get into dangerous positions to take a shot or set up a goal for his teammate. The above images show the winger’s actions, which include the dribbles as well as the progressive runs. Looking at these images, we can observe that the player likes to penetrate the opposition penalty box by attempting some useful dribbles that have actually gone in his favour. Last season, he averaged six dribbles per 90 minutes and had a 57.1% success rate. Semenyo also made 1.87 progressive runs per 90 minutes. This season, the average dribbles have decreased to 5.08 per 90 minutes, but the success rate has gone up to 61.1%. There is also a slight improvement in progressive runs, as the average has risen to 2.19 runs per 90 minutes.
These dribbles and progressive runs have allowed the striker to provide some crucial assists. Antoine Semenyo provided ten assists last season, and these were the highest contributions by the player in his short career. The first image shows that the assists that Semenyo provided last season were mostly produced from low crosses from the flanks. He likes to dribble past the defenders and delivers some good passes into the opposition’s penalty box. This season, he has two assists, and these have also come from crossing positions. This shows that the player can also play with a striker at the top and go to wider areas to show his creative side.
Betting Analysis
The 1×2 odds as well as the over/underlines would be affected by the signing of the player. His inclusion in the squad makes him a goal-scoring asset. However, he hasn’t played football in the top division, so the rates would only be slightly affected. As for the over/under lines, the over lines would see a decrease in the rate, while the under lines are expected to increase.
Antoine Semenyo could be on his way to the English Premier League. He is one of the rising African stars in English football. The teams battling relegation need some creativity at the top. The 23-year-old could offer a lot of creativity and could establish his name in the top division.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
