EPL Match Analysis: Combining Expected Goals (xG) and Betting Odds

Project Objective

This project aims to create a rich dataset by merging performance metrics (xG from Understat) with market data (betting odds from football-data.co.uk). The combined dataset is used to analyze team performance, explore the relationship between performance and market expectations, and identify potential market inefficiencies.

Data Sources

• Performance Data: worldfootballR package (sourcing from Understat.com).
• Market Data: CSV files from football-data.co.uk.

Project Structure

The project follows a standard R project structure:

• /data/raw: Contains the raw, untouched data files.
• /data/processed: Contains the final, cleaned, and merged datasets (.rds and .csv).
• /R: Contains the R scripts for the analysis, numbered in order of execution.
• /outputs: Contains saved plots and other analytical outputs.

How to Run This Project

This project uses the renv package for dependency management, ensuring full reproducibility.

1. Clone this repository to your local machine.
2. Open the epl_xg_odds_analysis.Rproj file in RStudio.
3. The renv package should automatically prompt you to restore the project library. Type renv::restore() in the console if it doesn't.
4. Run the scripts in the /R folder in numerical order:
   • 01_data_acquisition.R: Fetches the Understat data.
   • 02_data_processing.R: Cleans and merges all data sources.
   • 03_initial_analysis.R: Performs the exploratory analysis and generates plots.