Are You Not Being Entertained? This Drop of the Goal Scoring
A key narrative of the EPL season so far has been the decline of scoring in open play and how teams have been scoring more from set-plays instead.
Comparing how goals have been scored to the first 11 games last season, we note a drop of 39 scored in open-play and 26 more from team set-pieces and penalties, resulting in 13 less in total.
Considering overall statistics, the number of shots teams are taking have seen an incredible 370 fewer in open-play than at this stage last time out.
Even with the significant rise in dead-ball scores, we've actually seen only two additional attempts generated from these situations excluding penalties, indicating the proficiency teams have been at discovering methods to net from dead-ball situations.
Goal Averages Reveal an Interesting Narrative
The 301 goals recorded in 110 games to date calculates at 2.74 scores per game, which if it continued for all 38 games could be the smallest for half a decade, from five seasons ago (2.69 average).
Yet merely 196 scores scored in open-play averages out 1.78 per game and is tracking to be the lowest for since 2009-10, from 16 years ago (1.76 average).
2009-10 additionally represents the unique EPL season to see scoring more often from non-penalty set-pieces than the current rate of 0.77 per fixture (0.79 per game).
Which Teams Account for This Change?
When it comes to goals scored from open play, Wolverhampton Wanderers have recorded the largest drop, scoring a mere four in 11 games, 10 less than this point the previous campaign.
Excluding Wolverhampton, the EPL's drop in open-play scoring is largely a London thing, with five out of the city's seven teams scoring at least five goals fewer from open-play than last season.
Honestly, this is mainly because them netting lots of scores at the start of last season as opposed to them having difficulty to convert in open-play this campaign.
At the same time Manchester City have seen the largest rise, with all but one of their 23 goals to date arriving in open-play.
Set-Piece Success
Comparing the promoted teams with the relegated sides they took the place of. Sunderland the Black Cats have scored three extra scores in open-play than the Saints achieved in their first 11 games en route to demotion last season.
Regarding goals scored from set-plays (excluding penalties), the Gunners and the Blues have seen the biggest increase, with each team compensating for the five fewer scores that they've produced in open-play with the same number from dead-ball chances.
Man United have recorded two times more scores from set-pieces as they managed in the 11 games last season before Ruben Amorim took charge, while Sunderland once more prove better at converting than the similar-colored team that went down.
City seem unaware of the memo about scoring more from set-pieces, since they've recorded a reduction of three than last season, like Forest, although this could be because of the tactical shift they've attempted to adopt.
League-Wide Trends
Six clubs – the Gunners, Chelsea, Fulham, Newcastle, Spurs and the Hammers – represent this term's leading trend-followers by scoring fewer scores from open play and increased from set-pieces, while Manchester City are the unique club to go against the grain so far by performing the complete reverse.
It will be fascinating to watch if sides persist to place such emphasis on set-plays as the season goes on or if they find again their overall inventiveness and start converting more goals in open-play as well.
