Derby County have faced a 12-point reduction in the EFL Championship 2021-22 season, and are currently at the bottom of the Championship standings after each team has played 17 games. They currently have just six points and are five points behind Barnsley, who have 11 points in their 17 games this season. Despite being at the bottom, they have the fourth-best defense in the entire division, with only the top three teams conceding fewer goals than them in the league.
The Rams have been winless in the last seven games, but have drawn five and lost just two of these games, conceding just eight goals and scoring six. In this post, we will have a look at the xGA of various teams in the Championship and see where Derby County stand among them. We will also have a look at the defensive dashboards and stats of the two centre-backs used by Wayne Rooney, Curtis Davies and Phil Jagielka.
Derby County have the sixth-highest xGA in the entire Championship division. Despite this high xGA (expected goals against), they have conceded very few goals in the league this season. Their defense has been strong, and have only conceded 16 goals in the 17 league games so far this season. Only Bournemouth, West Brom, and Fulham, the top three teams in the league, have conceded fewer goals than the Rams.
The above viz shows the defensive dashboard of Phil Jagielka in the EFL Championship this season, as Derby have conceded the fourth-fewest goals in the league this season. The black line in the viz depicts the average for the particular stats for all players in the division. It is visible that Jagielka has proven himself by producing better than average stats for Derby this season and has formed a formidable partnership with Curtis Davies.
Curtis Davies has been one of the major reasons for Derby County’s success as a defensive unit this season. He has produced much better stats than the average stats in the Championship this season and has been one of the best centre-backs. Derby would have been in a much safer position if they had not faced the point reduction, and have still lost very few games. They still have a strong chance of coming back and surviving this season if they continue to defend in the same way and get some support from the attack to win games.
