Are You Not Being Entertained? The Fall of Open-Play Goals from Open Play
A key narrative of England's top flight this campaign has been the drop of goals scored in open play and the way sides are netting increasingly from set-pieces instead.
When we compare scoring methods to matchday 11 last season, we note a drop of 39 scored in open-play and 26 more from set-plays and penalties, leading to 13 fewer altogether.
Considering overall statistics, the number of shots sides are producing have seen a remarkable drop of 370 in open play than this time last time out.
Even with the notable jump in set-play finishes, there have actually been just two more attempts generated from them outside of penalties, indicating the efficiency clubs are at finding ways to score from set-pieces.
Goal Statistics Reveal an Interesting Narrative
The 301 goals recorded in 110 matches up to now calculates at 2.74 goals per game, if maintained for the whole season would be the smallest for half a decade, from five seasons ago (2.69).
However, only under 200 goals coming in open play equates to 1.78 per fixture and is tracking to be the smallest for 16 seasons, from 16 years ago (1.76 average).
The 2009-10 season is also the only Premier League campaign to witness scoring more often from non-penalty set-pieces than the current rate of 0.77 each match (0.79).
Which Sides Are Most Responsible?
When it comes to scoring from open-play, Wolverhampton Wanderers have experienced the largest decrease, scoring a mere four in 11 matches, 10 less than at this stage the previous campaign.
Apart from Wolves, the EPL's drop in open-play scoring is predominantly a trend among London clubs, with five out of the city's seven teams netting five or more fewer goals from open-play than last season.
To be fair, that's largely down to them netting lots of goals at the beginning of the previous campaign rather than them having difficulty to convert in open play the current term.
Meanwhile City have experienced the largest rise, with all but one of the 23 they've scored to date arriving in open-play.
Set-Piece Success
We've compared newly promoted sides with the relegated sides that they superseded. Sunderland the Black Cats have netted three more goals in open play than Southampton achieved in their opening 11 matches leading to relegation last season.
In terms of goals scored from set-pieces (aside from penalties), the Gunners and the Blues have recorded the biggest increase, with both sides replacing the five less goals that they've produced in open play with an equal amount from set-pieces.
Manchester United have netted twice as many goals from set-pieces as they did in the 11 games last season prior to Ruben Amorim took charge, while Sunderland again have been more effective at netting than the similar-colored team that went down.
Man City seem unaware of the message about netting additional goals from set-plays, since they've scored three fewer than last season, as have the Reds, though this could be because of the change in style they've attempted to adopt.
General Tendencies
Six teams – Arsenal, the Blues, the Cottagers, the Magpies, Spurs and the Hammers – are this season's leading trend-followers by recording fewer scores from open-play and more from set-pieces, while Manchester City are the only side to go against the grain to date by achieving the contrary.
It will be fascinating to observe if teams continue to depend greatly on set-plays as the season goes on or if they regain their general attacking flair and start scoring increased totals in open play also.
