Sunderland returned to the EFL Championship after earning promotion and made a decent start to the season. They earned 11 points in the first seven games, thanks to their striker, Ross Stewart. The 26-year-old Scott played a big part in their promotion to the Championship. He had a strong start to the season, with five goals and three assists in his first seven appearances, but an injury forced him to miss gametime. He returned to action this weekend and scored a goal to bring his tally to six goals this season. Other clubs, including a few in the Championship and Scottish giants Rangers, are now interested in signing the striker. Sunderland knows that it would be difficult to keep hold of the striker, so they have placed a heavy price tag on him. His stats this season have been impressive. We look at some of them to find out why teams are interested in the striker.
Ross Stewart is a regular part of the starting lineup for the Black Cats. He started the first seven matches and came off the bench in his most recent appearance. The striker has shown impressive form in the EFL Championship and has six goals along with three assists to his name. The above pizza chart shows the percentile rank of the striker in comparison to other strikers in the league. It can be observed that Stewart is rated very highly for scoring goals, taking shots, passing the ball, and being always available to receive the ball. The striker has also given some solid contributions to the defensive side as well.
Stewart in front of the goal
Ross Stewart has already made his name in the EFL Championship. The striker is in the race for the Golden Boot despite missing more than half of the games. Scott has been impressive in front of the goal and averages 3.27 shots per 90 minutes with a 50% accuracy rate. The above viz shows that he is ranked third for attempts per 90 minutes. The xG map suggests that Stewart takes good goal-scoring positions inside the opposition’s penalty box and has often found the back of the net. His xG rate is on the higher side due to his positioning inside the penalty box.
The touch map of the player shows his positioning and the areas that he has covered in the other team’s half. It can be noted that the attacker can go wide and spread the play. Inside the penalty box, he has taken 29 touches and averages 3.58 touches per 90 minutes. Of these 29 touches, five came inside the 6-yard box.
The 26-year-old attempts 2.7 dribbles to get past the opposition’s defence. He has a success rate of 40.9% and has been fouled 10 times this season. Stewart has earned three free kicks just outside the penalty box.
Impressive record in League One
Last season, Ross Stewart started all 49 matches for Sunderland. He managed to score 26 goals and provide three assists. The shots per 90 minutes averaged 2.45 with a 47.7% accuracy rate. The above xG map shows that the striker scores goals from inside the opposition penalty box. He took good positions inside the penalty box and converted most of his chances. The average touches inside the penalty box were 4.02 per 90 minutes. This attracted the interest of a few clubs at the start of the season, but Sunderland managed to keep hold of him.
Ross Stewart’s goal-scoring form and his consistency have attracted the interest of other clubs. The Scottish player is finding the back of the net on a regular basis and looks like a threat when inside the penalty box. Sunderland will look to block his move in the winter transfer window but might find it difficult if they are offered a good price.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
