Formed by Hammers supporters Jack Elderton and Callum Goodall to offer their fellow fans in-depth but accessible analysis of their team and its players, Analytics United provide content for the Club's official website, app, Official Programme and social media channels.
Today, Analytics United use performance analysis and data to examine the experience and quality Łukasz Fabiański brings on his return to West Ham United...
West Ham United have announced the return of Polish goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański after he was initially released at the end of the 2024/25 season. The shot-stopper rejoins the Hammers after Wes Foderingham’s transfer to Aris Limassol in the Cypriot league, adding his experience and quality back to the West Ham goalkeeping department.
He may not have been the out-and-out first-choice goalkeeper in east London over the last two seasons but, at 40 years of age, Fabiański retakes his place as the oldest player in the division and will bring buckets of experience back to the West Ham backline. Initially signing from Swansea City in 2018, Fabiański replaced former fan-favourite Adrián and loanee Joe Hart as the duo struggled for form all season throughout 2017/18. Hart ranked bottom for performance against post-shot-expected goals (PSxG) faced per 90 (-0.33), a metric that allows us to look directly into shot-stopping performance by factoring shot placement within the goal, whilst Adrián also ranked below zero (-0.01).
Conversely, Fabiański had performed incredibly well with Swansea despite the South Wales club taking the drop the season before, ranking third for PSxG performance (+0.14) and joint-fourth for overall save rate (72.1%), and he would immediately improve the level of goalkeeping in east London. In his first season in Claret and Blue, Fabiański improved his previous save rate to 74.2% and managed the second-best PSxG performance in the division with (+0.23), preventing an incredible 8.7 expected goals by the end of the season. These positive shot-stopping elements would then be maintained across his entire West Ham career where he only dipped below a 70% save rate in one season, the only campaign in which he played fewer than 1,000 minutes.
Compared to other Premier League goalkeepers last season, Fabiański boasted the second-best save percentage across the division with 74.6%. Only Chelsea’s Robert Sánchez could beat this figure (76.4%) and Fabiański comfortably outranked first choices for Brazil and Argentina, Alisson (72%) and Emiliano Martínez (69%). Digging deeper into his PSxG performance, Fabiański finished fourth amongst Premier League goalkeepers (+0.12) and outperformed known shot-stopping specialists like Matz Sels (+0.08), Dean Henderson (+0.08) and Nick Pope (+0.06).
Doing this while being forced to make the third-most saves in the division (on a per 90 basis) shows just how brilliant Fabiański continues to be when focusing purely on stopping the ball from going into the back of the net. Unlike other goalkeepers, who can sometimes struggle with the pressure of facing a penalty kick, Fabiański also brings these same qualities in spot-kick situations where he has saved the joint-most penalties (7) in the division since first signing for West Ham in the 2018/19 season. His save-rate against penalties of 25.9% even outmatches Jordan Pickford (24.1%), the only other goalkeeper to have saved seven spot-kicks over the last seven years.
Moving on to other important elements for goalkeepers, Fabiański also performs well as a distributor of longer passes. Whilst he isn’t of the same mould as build-up-focused keepers coming through academies right now, he has still maintained good performance levels when aiming to find the striker with longer balls forward. Across the eight Premier League seasons in which this data has been recorded, Fabiański has averaged 44.7% success with his longer passes, ahead of other seasoned Premier League campaigners like Bernd Leno (43.4%) and Pickford (41.6%).
Another key element, regardless of team tactics, is the ability to proactively help your defence by claiming or punching crosses. Whilst Fabiański isn’t known for coming off his line aggressively, he consistently communicates well with defenders in order to help his side defend against aerial bombardment. This is something that worked particularly well under previous West Ham manager David Moyes where Fabiański combined positively with Kurt Zouma, Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna to defend the box and limit opposition opportunities from crosses, helping West Ham qualify for the Europa League and Europa Conference League.
Despite his lower level of cross-claiming compared to some of the more assertive goalkeepers in European football, his average level of performance across the last eight seasons (5.4% crosses claimed or punched) still matches or beats other Premier League veterans like Martin Dúbravka (5.4%) and Alisson (4.7%).
With West Ham having signed 25-year-old Mads Hermansen from Leicester City in the summer transfer window, the arrival of Fabiański as a much more experienced head in the dressing room could help Hermansen navigate some of the challenges that come with being one of the younger goalkeepers playing in the most unforgiving league in world football. Fabiański first appeared in the Premier League back in the 2007/08 season, deputising for Jens Lehmann at Arsenal. And whilst he did keep two clean sheets in his first three league appearances, he would go on to be criticised for his performances with the Gunners until his departure in 2014.
Showing the form that he then did at Swansea proved just how resilient and competitive Fabiański is and his experience of being thrust into the limelight whilst still very young for a goalkeeper could be invaluable as Hermansen attempts to launch a long and successful stint in east London himself. With his qualities available in reserve as well, Graham Potter can be glad to have Fabiański back offering value to the side both on and off the pitch.
*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Analytics United and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of West Ham United.
