Statistician wizard Ben Mayhew has compiled a series of new graphics that cut through the hype, preconceived ideas and flood of data to get to the heart of what soccer clubs should care about, and what football supporters should know — which teams are the most effective attacking and defending in your favorite leagues including the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue Un.

Taking a look at the effectiveness of attacking by Premier League clubs, the above graphic puts the 20 teams into four categories: constant threat, energetically wasteful, languidly clinical, and ineffectual. Read the descriptions in the graphic above to get a better sense of what those categories mean.

In the constant threat area, you can see the most effective teams are Manchester City, Everton, Arsenal, Manchester United and Swansea. In contrast, the least effective teams — who create few chances and struggle to convert them — are Crystal Palace, West Ham, Stoke, Norwich and Southampton.

Now when you compare the attacking effectiveness to the defensive effectiveness (seen below), you can gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of sides. For example, Southampton are ineffectual in attacking but they’re formidable in defense. Crystal Palace are ineffectual in attacking and a pushover in defending — a dangerous combination, in a wrong way. Manchester City, on the other hand, were a constant threat in the attacking department, but they can be easily breached in defense.

Browse through the different graphics below for the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue Un. And feel free to share your observations or questions in the comments section below.

H/T Experiment 361.