Where Has the Excitement Gone? The Drop of Open-Play Goal Scoring
One of the biggest stories of the Premier League this campaign has been the drop of goals scored in open play and the way clubs are netting more from set-plays instead.
When we compare goal sources to the initial 11 matches last season, we note 39 fewer scored in open-play and an increase of 26 from team set-pieces and penalties, giving us 13 fewer overall.
If we look at the broader view, the number of shots clubs are making show a staggering 370 fewer in open play than at this stage last season.
Even with the notable jump in dead-ball scores, records show a mere two extra shots created from these situations excluding spot-kicks, showing how effective clubs have been at devising strategies to score from dead-ball chances.
Goal Averages Reveal an Interesting Narrative
Over 300 goals scored in the first 110 fixtures up to now averages out at nearly 2.75 goals per game, if maintained for the entire campaign would be the least for five years, from five seasons ago (2.69 per game).
Yet merely under 200 goals coming in open-play averages out 1.78 per fixture and is heading to be the smallest for 16 years, since 2009-10 (1.76 per game).
The 2009-10 season additionally represents the only Premier League campaign to see goals scored more often from non-penalty set-pieces than the current rate of 0.77 per game (0.79).
Which Sides Bear the Most Responsibility?
When it comes to scoring from open-play, Wolves have experienced the largest drop, scoring just four in 11 games, 10 less than at this stage last season.
Excluding Wolverhampton, the Premier League's decline in open play goals is predominantly a London phenomenon, with five out of the London's seven clubs netting at least five less scores from open-play than the prior season.
To be fair, that's largely down to their scoring lots of goals at the early stages of last season instead of them really struggling to convert in open-play this season.
At the same time City have recorded the biggest increase, with all but one of their 23 scores to date originating in open play.
Dead-Ball Dominance
We've compared the promoted teams with the relegated sides they replaced. Play-off champions Sunderland have scored three more goals in open play than Southampton achieved in their opening 11 matches en route to demotion the previous campaign.
In terms of scoring from set-plays (aside from spot-kicks), the Gunners and Chelsea have recorded the most significant jump, with both sides compensating for the five fewer goals that they've netted in open play with identical figures from dead-ball chances.
Man United have scored double the number goals from set-plays as they did in the first 11 matches the previous campaign prior to their coach assumed control, while Sunderland again have been more effective at netting than the club they replaced they superseded.
Manchester City don't seem to have got the trend about increasing scoring from set-pieces, as they've recorded three less than last season, as have Nottingham Forest, though this could be because of the change in style they've attempted to adopt.
General Tendencies
Six teams – the Gunners, the Blues, Fulham, the Magpies, Tottenham and West Ham – are this term's top trend-setters by netting less goals from open play and increased from set-plays, while City represent the sole team to defy the pattern up to now by doing the complete reverse.
It remains to be seen to watch if teams persist to place such emphasis on set-pieces as the campaign progresses or if they regain their overall inventiveness and begin converting more goals in open-play as well.
