Match the opponent and venue
We match each result with the same opponent and venue in the previous season. A home fixture is compared with the home fixture against that opponent last season, regardless of the matchweek.
Wins earn three points, draws one, and defeats zero. Winning a fixture that was drawn last season adds two points to the comparison. Losing a fixture that was won subtracts three. The table totals these differences for completed, matched fixtures. Unplayed fixtures do not count as defeats.
Promoted and relegated teams
A promoted club has no La Liga results from the previous season. We use a relegated club as a comparison baseline, rather than its lower-division results. Opponent substitutions are also needed when a fixture involves a promoted club; the comparison table labels the previous opponent in parentheses.
We pair promoted and relegated clubs in order. Use the selector to compare other baselines. The default pairs promotion order with relegated clubs ordered by their previous-season finish. Different baselines can produce different points gaps: these are comparisons with another club, not the promoted team's own past performance.
Limits
Matching opponents and venues reduces differences caused by the fixture schedule. It does not make matches equally difficult: squads, managers, injuries, rest periods, and opponent strength change. Early-season results cover a small sample, and clubs may have played different numbers of matches.
A positive points gap means better results from the matched fixtures. It is not proof of stronger underlying performance, a prediction of final league position, or an FPL fixture difficulty rating.
Data sources and availability
Football-Data.org is our main source for fixtures and results. We use ESPN to fill missing final scores for La Liga.
We check for updates five times a day during the season. New results and corrections may take time to appear.
The data check time records a successful Football-Data request for matches within three days before or after the check date. It does not mean every result is available. Backup sources fill missing final scores when available. The page build time only records when the page was generated.
We flag fixtures awaiting results three hours after their scheduled kickoff. If the kickoff time is unconfirmed, we wait until the following day. Postponed, cancelled and suspended games are excluded from this count. Missing final scores are left out of season comparisons.
Expected goals (xG) estimates chance quality. Coverage varies by source and season. Team pages show an xG section only when at least one matched fixture has xG for both seasons. Coverage can be incomplete. Missing xG is not zero.