Dundee’s talisman: Numbers behind Simon Murray’s award-winning April.
Murray scored more Premier League goals than any other player last month.
Murray has had a busy week, having been nominated for PFA Scotland Player of the Year and then winning Premiership Player of the Month in April.
The Dundee striker is in top form as the season comes to an end.
Murray’s eight goals in the last eight league games have helped the Dark Blues climb out of the bottom two ahead of their weekend match against Motherwell.
How good has Murray’s April been? Courier Sport runs the numbers.
Leading the way.
Murray ran himself into the ground against St Mirren earlier this month, and was eventually replaced after 89 minutes.
In the two subsequent matches against Hibs and Hearts, he played the entire 90 minutes.
Murray has led the way in attacking stats and also conducts Dundee fans in the stands.
Dundee defeated Hearts last Saturday, with Simon Murray scoring the game’s only goal. Image: Ross Parker/SNS.
The Dark Blues had six shots on goal against St Mirren, with Murray accounting for four of them.
He had only three touches in the opposition area, all of which were first-time shots.
His xG (the likelihood of a shot being scored) alone was 0.56, while Dundee’s total was 0.65.
Overall, the Dee were soundly defeated at Hibs. Murray had one touch in the Hibs box, which resulted in a shot on target.
Against Hearts, he was much busier. At Tynecastle, he has seven touches in the home box and two shots, one of which is on target.
Simon Murray scored against St Mirren. Image: Mark Scates/SNS.
His xG that day was only 0.15 (compared to Hearts’ overall xG of 1.46), but that’s clearly all he needs.
Dundee took 19 shots in three games, six of which were on target. Murray had four of those on target out of seven attempts, accounting for 66% of dark blue shots on goal in April.
Murray’s xG for the entire month was just 0.74. That means the average player should expect to score fewer than one goal from the opportunities presented to him.
Murray not only scored one, but three.
Goals
Dundee played three matches in April, defeating St Mirren and Hearts but losing to Hibs.
During those games, they scored three times. Simon Murray scored all three.
These three goals were more than any other Premier League player scored in April.
Nicolas Kuhn, Adam Idah, Reo Hatate, and Kieron Bowie each grabbed two, but none could match Dundee’s talisman.
Simon Murray is now on 22 goals for the season. Image: Mark Scates/SNS
Murray’s double earned the Dark Blues a priceless 2-0 home victory over St Mirren.
The first time, he latched onto a loose ball in the area before shooting low and hard past the custodian.
The second was an opportunistic long-range strike after goalkeeper Zach Hemming hit the striker with his clearance, with Murray’s 40-yard shot finding the corner.
Hibs was an off day for the team, and despite having Dundee’s best chance of the game, Murray failed to score against his former club.
Simon Murray beats Zac Hemming after an error from the St Mirren keeper. Image: Mark Runnacles/Shutterstock
However, he returned to scoring in the capital last weekend. Murray demonstrated striker instinct by scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Hearts.
Murray remains at the top of the Premiership scoring charts, with 16 goals in 34 appearances.
This season, his xG is 11.3, which is slightly lower than Daizen Maeda’s (11.8) total of 16 Premiership goals.
Dundee’s star striker is shining brightly; will he continue to do so in May?
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