Goals prevented: shot stopping against post-shot xG
Goals prevented is the expected goals on target (xGOT) a goalkeeper faced minus the goals they conceded, shown for both keepers on every match page rather than as a season table.
Why it matters. Saves and save percentage reward a keeper for facing weak shots. Goals prevented asks how many goals a typical keeper would have let in from the same shots, so it separates the keeper from the defence in front of them.
Figures built on licensed professional event data. Where the data comes from. Reviewed . Example figures, when shown, carry their own season and data date.
One number for shot stopping
Add up the expected goals on target of every shot a goalkeeper faced, then subtract the goals they conceded. The result is goals prevented. A keeper who faced shots worth 2.4 xGOT and conceded once prevented 1.4 goals. A keeper who faced the same shots and conceded three is at minus 0.6.
Zero is the average keeper. A positive figure means the keeper let in fewer goals than an average keeper would have from those exact shots. A negative figure means they let in more. Own goals stay out of both sides, since no keeper is expected to save those.
Why xGOT and not xG. A shot's xG is fixed before it is struck. A tap-in blazed over carries high xG and asks nothing of the keeper. xGOT values the shot as it leaves the boot: placement, power and the time the keeper had to react. A shot that misses the target has no xGOT at all. That is the shot the keeper actually had to deal with, so it is the one to measure them against.
Where to find it
Goals prevented is a per-match figure on this site, not a season total.
- Match page, Players tab, Performance view. The Keeping card gives each keeper their xGOT faced, goals conceded and goals prevented, with a team line for the side. Here is one match's card: goals prevented against post-shot xG.
- Match page, Report. The Goalkeeping section sets both keepers side by side: shots faced, goals conceded, xGOT faced and goals prevented, with big saves where the data carries them.
- Match ratings. A goalkeeper's match rating is built on goals prevented. A save credits the xGOT it stopped, and a goal conceded costs one minus the shot's xGOT, so a howler costs almost a full goal and an unsavable finish almost nothing.
There is no league table of keepers ranked by goals prevented yet. A search for the league's best shot stopper has no ranking to open. For a season view of goalkeepers, the players table's Goalkeeping view ranks saves, save percentage, goals conceded, shots faced and clean sheets.
Five keeper numbers that are not the same thing
| Figure | What it measures | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| xG faced (xGA) | Quality of the chances a side allowed, before the shot is struck | Team pages, season tables |
| xGOT faced | Quality of the shots on target a keeper had to deal with | Match page, Keeping and Goalkeeping |
| Goals conceded | Goals that went in, own goals included | Everywhere, season and match |
| Save percentage | Share of shots on target saved, every shot weighted the same | Players table, Goalkeeping view |
| Goals prevented | xGOT faced minus goals conceded, own goals excluded | Match page, Keeping and Goalkeeping |
xGA belongs to the defence: it says how good the chances were. Goals prevented belongs to the keeper: it says what they did with the shots that arrived. A side can have a low xGA and a keeper with a negative goals prevented at the same time, and that is the pattern behind a sound back line that keeps conceding.
Reading it
One match is one or two shots. A keeper who faces three shots on target and saves a 0.6 xGOT effort is at plus 0.6 on that save alone. The match verdict names the keeper as a deciding factor only when the gap is at least half a goal across three or more shots on target. Below that, the card shows the figure and the verdict looks elsewhere.
A quiet night tells you little. A keeper behind a dominant side faces two or three shots a match, so their goals prevented sits close to zero whatever their quality. The figure separates keepers who face a lot of shots. For the rest, the clean sheet is the defence's work as much as theirs.
Penalties count as shots. A penalty faced carries its xGOT like any other shot on target, so a saved penalty is a large positive swing and a conceded one a small negative. When a penalty was faced, the Report's Goalkeeping section adds a penalties saved row so you can see how much of a keeper's figure it explains.
FAQ
On the match page. The Players tab's Keeping card gives each keeper's figure and a team line, and the Report's Goalkeeping section sets both keepers side by side with shots faced, goals conceded and xGOT faced. It is not a column on the season players table, so there is no league ranking of keepers by goals prevented to open yet. The players table's Goalkeeping view ranks saves, save percentage, goals conceded, shots faced and clean sheets.
Save percentage treats every shot on target the same, so a keeper facing tame long-range efforts scores well. Goals prevented weights each shot by how likely it was to beat a keeper, so stopping one headed for the corner counts for far more than catching one hit straight at them.
No. xG faced, the xGA on the team pages, values a chance before the shot is struck and belongs to the defence. xGOT faced values the shot after it leaves the boot, placement and power included, and only shots on target carry any. Goals prevented is built from xGOT faced because that is the shot the keeper actually had to deal with.
When a side used two goalkeepers in a match and the data cannot credit each shot to one of them, each keeper row keeps its saves and goals conceded but shows a dash for prevented, and the team line carries the figure for the side instead.
No. A single match turns on one or two shots, so the figure swings by a goal either way on a quiet night. The match verdict only names the keeper as a deciding factor when the gap is at least half a goal across three or more shots on target. Judge a keeper on a run of matches, not one card.
Where the method comes from
Related terms
See Prevented across the Premier League
Every player, team and match measured on the chances created rather than the scoreline.