Chicago Fire leaving no doubt in their ascent to the top | Expected Goals

The Chicago Fire are the hottest team in MLS.

Toronto FC currently sit at the top of the Supporters' Shield standings, after their 2-0 win on Friday night against the New England Revolution, and have lost just one of their last 11 games. But Toronto's eight-game unbeaten run was bested by the Fire on Saturday night when they dismantledOrlando City SC, 4-0.

By the eye test, the Fire's offensive performance against Orlando was maybe the best we've seen in MLS this year. By the expected goals numbers provided by Opta, it was the best. The chances they created came to a value of 4.31, meaning they would be expected to score 4.31 goals on average. The fact that they scored only four means that their finishing was not optimal and/or they were a bit unlucky. The 4.31 xG value was the highest any team has put up this season.

This kind of performance has not been out of the ordinary in recent weeks for the Fire, as their expected goal differential of 1.21 over their last five games is .25 more than any other team in MLS. For the season Veljko Paunovic's team has an xGD of 9.53, good for second-best in the league behind New York City FC (10.49).

David Accam was the star on Saturday night, scoring his first hat trick in MLS and adding an assist. With that kind performance he moved to No. 1 in MLS in non-penalty goals plus assists per 90 minutes. This jump occurred despite one of his goals coming from the penalty spot.

Two important notes before looking at Week 17's xG numbers: Penalties have a value of .79, and own goals are not factored into the values.