Where Has the Excitement Gone? The Fall of the Goal Scoring
A key narrative of England's top flight season so far is the reduction of goals scored in open-play scenarios and how sides are finding goals more from dead-ball situations as an alternative.
When we compare goal sources to the initial 11 matches last season, we note 39 fewer goals in open-play and an increase of 26 from team set-pieces and spot-kicks, leading to 13 less altogether.
Considering the bigger picture, efforts on goal sides are producing show a remarkable drop of 370 in open play than this time last season.
Even with the notable jump in set-play finishes, there have actually been just two more attempts generated from these situations excluding spot-kicks, indicating the proficiency teams are at devising strategies to convert from dead-ball situations.
Goal Averages Tell the Tale
The 301 goals recorded in the first 110 fixtures to date works out at 2.74 scores per game, if this persists for all 38 games might be the lowest for half a decade, from five seasons ago (2.69).
But just under 200 goals scored in open play translates to 1.78 per game and is heading to be the least for 16 years, since 2009-10 (1.76 average).
2009-10 also marks the sole English top-flight season to witness goals scored more frequently from dead-balls without spot-kicks than this season's rate of 0.77 each match (0.79).
What Clubs Are Most Responsible?
When it comes to scoring from open-play, Wolverhampton Wanderers have seen the largest drop, netting just four in 11 matches, 10 fewer than this point the previous campaign.
Outside of Wolverhampton, the Premier League's decline in open-play scoring is predominantly a London phenomenon, with five out of the London's seven clubs recording at least five fewer goals from open-play than the previous year.
To be fair, this is mainly because them netting lots of scores at the beginning of last season instead of their genuine struggle to score in open-play the current term.
Conversely City have experienced the largest rise, with almost every one of the 23 they've scored this season arriving in open play.
Set-Play Proficiency
Comparing newly promoted sides with the teams that went down that they superseded. Play-off champions Sunderland have recorded three extra goals in open play than the Saints managed in matchday 11 en route to the drop the previous campaign.
In terms of goals scored from set-plays (not counting penalties), the Gunners and the Blues have recorded the biggest increase, with both sides making up for the five less goals that they've netted in open play with the same number from dead-ball situations.
United have scored two times more scores from set-pieces as they managed in the first 11 matches last season ahead of the manager assumed control, while the Black Cats once more are more effective at converting than the similar-colored team they replaced.
Man City appear not to have received the trend about netting additional goals from set-pieces, since they've netted three less than the previous campaign, like Forest, though this could be because of the tactical shift they have tried to implement.
General Tendencies
Six teams – Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, the Magpies, Tottenham and the Hammers – are this season's leading trend-followers by netting less goals from open play and more from set-pieces, while Man City stand as the sole team to buck the trend up to now by performing the complete reverse.
It will be interesting to watch if clubs carry on to rely so heavily on set-plays as the season goes on or if they find again their overall inventiveness and begin netting more goals in open-play too.
