🔗 Share this article

A major talking point of England's top flight season so far is the decline of goals scored in open play and the way clubs are netting increasingly from dead-ball situations instead.

Comparing goal sources to the first 11 games last season, there have been a drop of 39 goals in open play and an increase of 26 from team set-pieces and spot-kicks, giving us 13 less overall.

Considering the bigger picture, the number of shots clubs are making reveal a remarkable drop of 370 in open play than at this stage previously.

Even with the notable jump in set-piece goals, there have actually been only two additional attempts produced from them outside of penalties, demonstrating how effective clubs have been at devising strategies to convert from set-pieces.

Scoring Rates Reveal a Story

The 301 goals notched in 110 games so far works out at 2.74 goals per game, which if it continued for the whole season might be the lowest for half a decade, back in 2020-21 (2.69).

Yet merely 196 goals scored in open-play averages out 1.78 per fixture and is heading to be the lowest for 16 seasons, since 2009-10 (1.76 per game).

The 2009-10 season is also the unique EPL campaign to witness goals scored at a higher rate from set-plays excluding penalties than the current rate of 0.77 per fixture (0.79).

Which Teams Account for This Change?

When it comes to goals scored from open play, Wolverhampton Wanderers have seen the most significant drop, registering just four in 11 matches, a reduction of 10 than this point last season.

Apart from Wolverhampton, England's top division's drop in open-play scoring is predominantly a London thing, with five of the city's seven teams netting a minimum of five fewer goals from open play than the previous year.

To be fair, this is mainly because them netting many goals at the start of last season instead of their genuine struggle to find the net in open-play the current term.

At the same time Manchester City have seen the biggest increase, with almost every one of their 23 goals to date arriving in open-play.

Set-Piece Success

We've compared newly promoted sides with the teams that went down they replaced. Sunderland the Black Cats have scored three extra goals in open play than Southampton managed in matchday 11 on their way to relegation last season.

When it comes to goals scored from set-pieces (not counting penalties), the Gunners and the Blues have recorded the most significant jump, with both sides replacing the five fewer scores that they've netted in open-play with the same number from set-pieces.

Manchester United have netted double the number scores from set-pieces as they managed in matchday 11 the previous campaign before their coach assumed control, while Sunderland again have been more effective at netting than the club they replaced that went down.

City seem unaware of the trend about increasing scoring from set-plays, since they've netted a reduction of three than the previous campaign, similar to Nottingham Forest, though this may result from the altered approach they have tried to implement.

General Tendencies

Six sides – Arsenal, the Blues, Fulham, the Magpies, Tottenham and West Ham – represent this term's primary examples by netting less goals from open play and additional from set-pieces, while Man City represent the only side to buck the trend to date by performing the contrary.

It remains to be seen to observe if clubs continue to rely so heavily on set-pieces as matches continue or if they rediscover their overall inventiveness and commence converting increased totals in open play as well.