Relative form

SoccerSTATS.com - updated on: 7 Jun 2020

Objective

The Relative Form table is used to evaluate a team's recent performance relative to the team's overall performance in the season.

Description

The table lists team ranked by points and shows, for each team:

• Games played
• Points
• Points Per Game in the last 8 matches
• Points Per Game in all matches
• PPG last 8 matches - PPG all matches

Below is a view of some of the first columns of the Relative Form table.

Calculations

Points Per Game (PPG) last 8 matches

That value is calculated based on the number of points picked up in the last 8 matches by each team, divided by 8 or, if the team has played less than 8 matches, by the number of matches played. Obviously that table is not relevant for teams that have not yet played more than 8 matches.

Points Per Game (PPG) all matches

That value is calculated based on the number of points for each team, divided by the number of matches played by the team.

PPG last 8 matches - PPG all matches

Difference between the two following values: PPG last 8 matches, PPG all matches

The Relative Form table does not use a typical Form table ranking method, as the teams are not ranked according to points picked up in their last few matches only. However it does include a Form-related metric (the Points Per Game in the last 8 matches), that is evaluated against the Points Per Game in all matches.

Example

You can view an example on the Bundesliga Relative Form page.

Avoiding pitfalls

A high Relative Form value might not necessarily indicate that the team is on a very successful run and that it would be highly ranked in the Form tables. The relative form value is only a calculation of how high or how low a team's last 8 matches Points Per Game value is compared to their overall PPG considering the whole season so far.

In other words, that table is not meant to identify which teams have been performing well or which ones have been performing badly in the last few games, but rather to identify which teams have been performing better than usual or worse than usual, if we consider "usual" meaning "all league matches played by the team so far in the season".