Tips & Insights
Reading form beyond the last five results
Why the W-D-L strip on your screen is the least useful number in football, and the three metrics our desk uses instead.
Brian Mwangi · 1 September 2026 · 9 min read
9 min read
Five results is a sample small enough to say almost anything. Opponent quality, home and away splits and shot volume all sit underneath it, unreported.
Shot quality over shot count
Twenty shots from range is a worse afternoon than six from inside the six-yard box, and the scoreline often disagrees with both.
Sequence, not average
A team that beat three bottom-half sides is not in the same form as one that drew with three of the top four.
Form is a description of the past. Availability is a description of the next match.
