Is the Entertainment Fading? The Fall of Open-Play Goals from Open Play

A key narrative of England's top flight this campaign is the decline of goals scored in open play and the way teams are finding goals more from dead-ball situations instead.

Looking at goal sources to the first 11 games last season, we see a drop of 39 scored in open play and 26 more from team set-pieces and spot-kicks, leading to 13 less overall.

If we look at the broader view, shot attempts clubs are making show a remarkable 370 fewer in open-play than this time last time out.

Even with the significant rise in set-piece goals, there have actually been just two more shots produced from them outside of penalties, demonstrating how effective clubs are at discovering methods to convert from dead-ball situations.

Goal Statistics Show the Tale

Over 300 goals recorded in the first 110 fixtures so far works out at 2.74 goals per fixture, if this persists for all 38 games might be the smallest for half a decade, from five seasons ago (2.69 per game).

Yet merely under 200 goals scored in open play averages out 1.78 per fixture and is heading to be the least for 16 years, since 2009-10 (1.76 average).

That campaign also marks the only Premier League season to see goals scored more often from non-penalty set-pieces than the current rate of 0.77 each match (0.79 per game).

Which Sides Account for This Change?

In terms of goals scored from open play, Wolverhampton Wanderers have experienced the largest drop, registering just four in 11 games, a reduction of 10 than at this stage the previous campaign.

Apart from Wolves, the EPL's drop in goals from open play is very much a trend among London clubs, with five out of the capital's seven sides netting five or more fewer goals from open play than the previous year.

Honestly, this is mainly because them scoring many goals at the start of the previous campaign rather than them really struggling to score in open-play this campaign.

Meanwhile Man City have seen the biggest increase, with all but one of their 23 scores to date arriving in open play.

Set-Piece Success

Comparing newly promoted sides with those that were relegated that they superseded. Play-off champions the Black Cats have scored three extra goals in open-play than the Saints managed in their first 11 games leading to the drop the previous campaign.

In terms of scoring from set-plays (excluding spot-kicks), the Gunners and Chelsea have recorded the most significant jump, with each team replacing the five less goals that they've scored in open play with an equal amount from set-pieces.

Manchester United have recorded two times more goals from set-pieces as they did in the 11 games the previous campaign before the manager took over, while the Black Cats once more are more effective at converting than the club they replaced they replaced.

Manchester City don't seem to have got the message about scoring more from set-plays, as they've scored three less than the previous campaign, like Forest, even if that might be down to the change in style they're working to install.

General Tendencies

Six teams – the Gunners, Chelsea, Fulham, the Magpies, Spurs and West Ham – have been this term's top trend-setters by netting less goals from open-play and increased from set-plays, while Man City represent the sole team to go against the grain up to now by doing the contrary.

It will be fascinating to watch if sides continue 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 too.