Eredivisie

Highlighted: Top scorers face off in the Kuip

10 November 2023

This coming Sunday, Feyenoord and AZ, currently the second and third-placed teams in the Eredivisie, will face each other in De Kuip. That in itself is a reason to tune in, but the match gains even more allure because these clubs harbor the two undisputed top scorers of the Eredivisie. The 'game within the game' will be between Santiago Giménez and Vangelis Pavlidis.

Santiago Giménez and Vangelis Pavlidis celebrating

Top scorers

So far this season, Feyenoord's Santiago Giménez has scored thirteen goals in the first eleven Eredivisie matches, which is one less than AZ striker Vangelis Pavlidis (14). While the strikers are neck-and-neck on the top scorers list, how do the underlying statistics look?

Eredivisie 2023/24

Santiago Giménez	Statistics	Vangelis Pavlidis
11	Games	11
890	Playing minutes	944
13	Goals	14
44	Shots	44
22	Shots on target	27
10.5	Expected Goals	8.7
50%	Shot accuracy (incl. Blocks)	61,4%
29,5%	Shot conversion (incl. Blocks)	31,8%

This shows that both players recorded exactly the same number of shots (44), but Vangelis Pavlidis aimed more frequently on target. Another notable point: the AZ striker had fewer Expected Goals, indicating that his goal attempts were from less favorable positions compared to Santiago Giménez. However, the Greek player from AZ has already scored one more goal.

Form crisis

Indeed, it can be said that Santiago Giménez is experiencing a minor form crisis. In the previous round, away at RKC Waalwijk, he missed a penalty, and he also failed to score midweek in the Champions League. In the Eredivisie, it's noteworthy that Giménez has only scored once in his last ten shots (a shot conversion of 10%), whereas he scored twelve times in his thirty attempts before that (a shot conversion of 40%).

Santiago Giménez scores the 2-0 in the friendly match against Benfica (30-07-2023)

Least favorite opponent for the Greek

And what about Vangelis Pavlidis? He also did not score in his previous Eredivisie match and is not exactly facing his favorite opponent in Feyenoord. Pavlidis has only scored once in eight league matches against the Rotterdammers.

So, on Sunday, two strikers will face each other who will be thoroughly motivated to score. Not only to help their clubs in the title race but also to give themselves a boost in the race for the top scorer title.