Using a sample of 40 centre-forwards from the English Premier League, we wanted to find out which performance indicators are significant according to the rank of the team in which the centre-forwards play and whether there are statistically significant differences between the ranks. We divided the centre-forwards into 5 ranks depending on where their team finished the 2022/23 season. Then we divided several performance indicators into sets describing the strikers' play (shots, passes, dribbles, high pressure and pressure after losing the ball, and the possession value model). We used one-way ANOVA to check for statistical differences of 25 performance indicators between the ranks and then the Bonferroni's multiple comparisons test to identify possible differences between each pair of ranks. We found that for 11 (44%) of the performance indicators, statistically significant differences between the centre-forwards emerged. Differences occur in all sets, suggesting better overall performance of centre-forwards in higher ranked clubs. Key passes, high pressure and possession value model show differences between the highest number of pairs of ranks, while the largest differences in performance indicators within each set (6) occur for shots. The results of the study suggest a higher overall performance of centre-forwards in higher ranked clubs, but it must be considered that no differences were found in 14 performance indicators and that only 40 centre-forwards were analyzed. Despite the number of matches in a season, fluctuations in form, injuries and other factors occur frequently, and these factors can affect the performance of centre-forwards. The correlation between performance indicators and club rank was statistically significant in 14 cases (56%), again suggesting that centre-forwards in higher ranked clubs are more effective. All the results suggest that it would be worthwhile to conduct a similar study on a larger sample in the future, or to include other league competitions in the existing sample, or to test the hypotheses over several seasons.
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