Leeds United and Sheffield United are being betrayed by the statistics - Stuart Rayner

Context is everything.

For starters, Leeds United’s 25 wasted shots were backed up by a clean sheet which earned a point at home to Arsenal, whereas a mishit clearance meant Sheffield United’s 22 unconverted efforts handed West Bromwich Albion a first league win this season. The Blades are still awaiting theirs.

Of Leeds’s 25, three hit the woodwork; Sheffield United’s included terrible misses by George Baldock and Lys Mousset.

To use one of coach Marcelo Bielsa’s favourite words, the Whites have never been “efficient” in front of goal under him. It adds to their charm that without dead-eyed scorers they have no choice but to make stacks of chances. According to statistics website Transfermarkt, no team in this season’s Premier League has made more, even if 15 goals from 10 games is only the equal 10th-best return.

If Leeds are expansive, their Yorkshire rivals try to make a virtue of squeezing a lot out of a little. Last season their top-scorers managed just six goals each. Oli McBurnie is yet to score in 2020-21 and fellow striker Mousset had come off the bench for his first appearance of an injury-delayed campaign when he ballooned over on Saturday.

Leeds’s performance against Arsenal felt like another sign of things moving in the right direction. A team which conceded four against Liverpool (no shame there), Leicester City and Crystal Palace (more alarming) kept Arsenal’s attacking players at bay without sacrificing their own threat.

In the next game, at Everton, the goal – after 23 attempts – and a 1-0 win were forthcoming. A couple of hours later, the Blades’ defeat added to their sense of gloom.

Sheffield is not churning out the goals this season. Chris Wilder’s side have just four in 10 matches, the Premier League’s worst record, Wednesday seven in 14, is the Championship’s equal fewest.

Neither has a striker inspiring confidence.

Tony Pulis substituted substitute Jordan Rhodes in the 0-0 draw with Stoke City despite him being the only available player he considers a genuine centre-forward.

Wilder has them coming out of his ears – two in Saturday’s XI, three on the bench and captain Billy Sharp not in the squad – but the only one to have found the net in open play this season, David McGoldrick, is more a maker than a taker of goals, these are Oli Burke (about whom the same could perhaps be said) and Rhian Brewster’s maiden Premier League seasons as regular options, and with the ball just not going in for McBurnie, self-belief looks low.

Leeds’s Patrick Bamford is arguably no more ruthless but he is confident after a good start, which makes a big difference.

One point from 10 games can easily get managers sacked, but again context is all-important at Bramall Lane. Wilder has considerable credit in the bank having taken the team from League One to the brink of Europe last season and showed at the Hawthorns the tactics and powers of motivation to create enough chances to win games. Taking them never has been his or Bielsa’s department.

Statistics are an ever-greater part of football but do not tell the whole story so there is a trend towards making a science out of subjective figures – “expected” goals, “key” passes. That Transfermarkt stat about Leeds having the most shots? WhoScored.com put them third.

The numbers can tell you so much, but there is a reason newspapers like The Yorkshire Post continue to send reporters to matches.

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