Brentford's numbers last season

After losing their manager, captain, and top two scorers last summer, many had predicted Brentford would struggle to avoid relegation in the previous season. However, under the guidance of Keith Andrews, the Bees defied expectations by finishing comfortably in the top half of the league, exactly where they deserved to be given their underlying statistics.

While only four teams registered fewer shots than Brentford, they more than made up for this deficiency by generating the highest number of quality chances on average throughout the league. This allowed them to secure an impressive seventh-place ranking in terms of expected goals (xG). In fact, the Bees created better chances on average than even the German champions, Bayern Munich, in Europe's top five leagues, despite excluding the league-leading ten penalties awarded to the Bees.

Despite having the best shot conversion rate in the league, Brentford should, by all rights, have been even more clinical given the abundance of fantastic chances they possessed. In actuality, only five teams underperformed their xG by more than the Bees did, highlighting their exceptional performance relative to their shot quality.