Birmingham City player named as Championship’s biggest flop with shocking statistic

Birmingham City have had a mixed bag of a season so far, at first propelling to the lofty heights of the top six under John Eustace before plummeting into the bottom half under Wayne Rooney. Goalscoring wasn’t much of an issue at the beginning of the campaign but it has become so now and one player is a particular culprit, according to a newly-released dataset.

Scott Hogan, who was once fairly clinical for Blues with a goal every three matches or so in seasons gone by, has been misfiring this term. The Irishman, who has been hung out to dry by sections of the Blues fanbase, has netted just once in 13 appearances. To make matters worse, it turns out he’s actually the biggest underperformer in the entirety of the Sky Bet Championship in 2023/24.

BetVictor has studied the goals scored and expected goals figure of every player, working out the total underperformance or overperformance statistics. Hogan sits at the top of the former, with 3.5 xG but just one goal converted, giving him an underperformance of -2.5. Haji Wright of Coventry City and Sinclair Armstrong of Queens Park Rangers are next, both at -2.2.

At the other end of the scale sits Norwich City ace Jon Rowe, who has hit the back of the net seven times despite accumulating just 2.3 xG. That gives the winger an overperformance of +4.7, well ahead of West Bromwich Albion midfielder John Swift (+4.1) and Sunderland wideman Jack Clarke (+3.0). Blues will be hoping Hogan can start to turn the tide sooner rather than later.

Championship’s biggest overperformers

• Jon Rowe (Norwich): 7 goals from 2.3 xG means an overperformance of +4.7.
• John Swift (West Brom): 6 goals from 1.9 xG means an overperformance of +4.1.
• Jack Clarke (Sunderland): 9 goals from 6.0 xG means an overperformance of +3.0.
• Nathan Broadhead (Ipswich): 6 goals from 3.6 xG means an overperformance of +2.4.
• Arnór Sigurdsson (Blackburn): 3 goals from 0.7 xG means an overperformance of +2.3.

Championship’s biggest underperfomers

• Scott Hogan (Birmingham): 1 goal from 3.5 xG means an underperformance of -2.5.
• Haji Wright (Coventry): 2 goals from 4.2 xG means an underperformance of -2.2.
• Sinclair Armstrong (QPR): 1 goal from 3.2 xG means an underperformance of -2.2.
• Georginio Rutter (Leeds): 2 goals from 4.1 xG means an underperformance of -2.1.
• Josh Windass (Sheffield Weds): 0 goals from 2.0 xG means an underperformance of -2.0.