Expected goals, assists, and player actions

What "expected value" means in football

In football analytics, "expected value" refers to a family of metrics that assign a numerical value to events, game states, or players based on the probability of contributing to a goal (or preventing one). The motivation: raw counting stats (goals, assists, tackles) are noisy, position-dependent, and miss most of what happens on a pitch. xV-style metrics try to credit players for the chance-creation signal in their actions, not only the rare terminal outcomes.