Despite outscoring Fulham by over 1.3 Expected Goals (xG) on Tuesday night, Leeds United still managed to miss the target completely and crashed out of the FA Cup in a 2-0 loss at Craven Cottage.
This has been a recurring theme throughout the Whites' 2022/23 campaign so far and was a major criticism of former manager Jesse Marsch's time at Elland Road - Leeds might've been playing better football than they had been before but they still weren't getting the results.
That form in front of goal has ultimately seen them dragged into a second relegation battle in two seasons, and despite bringing in a manager with Premier League experience in the form of Javi Gracia, it's unclear as to whether they'll be able to survive this one as they did last time.
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'You can't win if you don't score' is the age-old saying that truly encapsulates Leeds' season as a whole so far. In 11 matches of the 24 they've played in the league this season, they have underperformed their xG - having not scored at all in 10 of those 11 matches.
What makes that even worse is that in three of those games, they underperformed their xG by -1.8 and while it's far from the Premier League's worst (-2.8xG by Newcastle United against Crystal Palace), it's certainly not a statistic Gracia will be hoping stays around much longer.
It won't help matters that Leeds have statistically the most-underperforming player in front of goal in England's top-flight this season in their ranks in the form of Patrick Bamford, who has underperformed his xG by -4.3.
Fortunately for the Whites, this weekend's opponents Chelsea are undoubtedly in a similar, if not downright identical, boat that has seen them actually find new ways to not score over the past few weeks.
Blues boss Graham Potter has come under a lot of fire from fans over what has been a stagnant period for the club, but the underlying stats highlight a major issue for Chelsea - their players can't seem to put the ball in the back of the net.
Many ahead of this weekend's clash will point to the fact that they've won just two of their last 15 matches in the league, but in those last 15, they've scored just six goals from 18.34xG - hardly something that Potter can influence.
In fact, both teams have outscored or matched their opponents eight times on xG this season in games they've either drawn or lost (according to fbref.com), and there have been some glaring examples.
For Leeds fans, the 2-1 loss to Aston Villa in January was a tough pill to swallow, made even worse by the fact that they created more xG (2.4) in that game than they did in both the 4-3 win over Bournemouth (2.2) or the 3-0 win over Chelsea in the reverse fixture back in August (2.1).
Those same Whites fans called for their new manager to find their players' shooting boots after the loss to Fulham earlier this week, and will be hoping for an improved performance in front of both goals when they travel back down to SW6 this weekend.
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