THE THIRD BEST 'WINTER VERSION' OF SEVILLA OF THE DECADE

Last Friday brought an end to the first half of the league season. They picked up a point in a tough encounter, however that being the only point they have picked up in the last two games is somewhat unheard of at the traditional fortress that is Nervión. However, their recent performances at home shouldn't take anything away from their performance over the first half of the league campaign. Without going any further, only two Sevilla teams in the last decade have accumulated more points at the halfway stage in the league season than this team. These two years were in 2014/15 with Emery at the helm (39 points) and also in 2016/17, with Jorge Sampaoli in charge (42 points) - where the side also sat in second place. Last season, the team were sat in third place, one better off than this year; but had two fewer points than they do this year. 

As far as positioning in the table is concerned, over the last decade the team has always ranged between the already mentioned 42 points in 2016/17, and the 22 points that they had managed by this stage in the 2012/13 season. If the barometer for success is European qualification, they have been in the Champions League spots on four occasions: 2014/15, 2016/17, 2018/19 and this current season; as well as in sixth place in 2017/18 and two seventh placed finishes to the first half of the season: in 2013/14 and 2015/16. The side have only not been in the European spots on three occasions, namely the first three seasons of the decade: 2010/11 (10th place), 2011/12 (9th place) and 2012/13 (12th place).

Tomas Vaclík is second in the table for the Zamora Trophy for the league's best goalkeeper, only behind Oblak

Returning to the present day, if something has made this particular Sevilla FC a force, it has been their defense - which has racked up the best numbers this season of the whole decade. At this stage of the 2014/15 season, they had only conceded 19 goals (ratio of 1 a game). This season, they have conceded one fewer: only 18 goals have been conceded, which is less than a goal a game. This figure is coupled with the impressive clean sheet record of Tomas Vaclík, which stands at eight, and equates to 42.1% of games in the league. The Czech shotstopper is also the goalkeeper who has conceded the second fewest goals in La Liga, with a coefficient of 0.95 goals a game. The only 'keeper beating him at the moment in Oblak, with a coefficient of 0.63.

The blanket theory, as is spoke about in football, says that when a team is too strong at the back, it often lacks in attack and vice versa. However, the more than positive figures in defence do not entirely correspond to a bad goal ratio. The fact is that although the attacking players are struggling to make it to the top of the scoring charts so far, the team has scored 24 goals in the league, which means that the goal-difference is +6. There have only been three seasons in the last decade where Sevilla FC have had a better goal difference at this stage. These were in 2016/17 with +17, in 2014/15 with +12 and in 2018/19, with +11. Out of curiosity, in 2013/14 season, the team had the same goal-difference as they have now (+6); however they had scored and conceded 12 more goals each - which was only good enough for 30 points, five fewer than they have this season.