Is the Entertainment Fading? The Drop of Open-Play Goals from Open Play
One of the biggest stories of England's top flight season so far has been the drop of scoring in open play and how teams are netting increasingly from dead-ball situations as an alternative.
Comparing how goals have been scored to the initial 11 matches last season, we see 39 fewer goals in open play and an increase of 26 from set-plays and spot-kicks, leading to 13 less altogether.
If we look at overall statistics, shot attempts teams are taking have seen an incredible drop of 370 in open play than this time last season.
And despite the significant rise in set-play finishes, records show only two additional shots produced from them outside of penalties, indicating the proficiency teams are at discovering methods to score from set-pieces.
Goal Averages Reveal an Interesting Narrative
Over 300 goals scored in the first 110 fixtures to date averages out at nearly 2.75 goals each match, if this persists for all 38 games could be the least for five years, from five seasons ago (2.69 per game).
Yet merely 196 scores coming in open play equates to 1.78 per game and is tracking to be the lowest for since 2009-10, from 16 years ago (1.76 per game).
2009-10 also marks the unique EPL season to experience goals scored more frequently from non-penalty set-pieces than this season's rate of 0.77 per fixture (0.79 per game).
What Clubs Are Most Responsible?
Regarding goals scored from open-play, Wolverhampton Wanderers have recorded the most significant decline, registering only four in 11 matches, 10 fewer than at this stage last season.
Outside of Wolverhampton, England's top division's fall in open-play scoring is largely a London thing, with half of the London's seven clubs recording five or more fewer goals from open play than the prior season.
To be fair, this is primarily due to them scoring lots of scores at the beginning of last season as opposed to them really struggling to score in open play this campaign.
At the same time Manchester City have experienced the biggest increase, with almost every one of the 23 they've scored this season coming in open-play.
Set-Play Proficiency
We've compared clubs that came up with the teams that went down they took the place of. Play-off champions Sunderland have netted three extra goals in open-play than Southampton managed in their opening 11 matches leading to the drop the previous campaign.
When it comes to goals scored from set-pieces (excluding spot-kicks), Arsenal and the Blues have recorded the biggest increase, with each team compensating for the reduction of five goals that they've produced in open-play with an equal amount from dead-ball situations.
Man United have recorded double the number goals from set-pieces as they achieved in the first 11 matches the previous campaign prior to Ruben Amorim took charge, while the Black Cats additionally prove better at netting than the club they replaced they replaced.
Man City appear not to have received the trend about increasing scoring from set-pieces, as they've netted three less than last season, like Forest, although that might be down to the tactical shift they've attempted to adopt.
League-Wide Trends
Six clubs – the Gunners, Chelsea, Fulham, the Magpies, Tottenham and the Hammers – represent this season's primary examples by netting less goals from open-play and increased from set-pieces, while Man City stand as the sole team to buck the trend so far by doing the contrary.
It remains to be seen to observe if sides continue to depend greatly on set-plays as matches continue or if they find again their overall inventiveness and begin scoring increased totals in open-play as well.