🔗 Share this article Are You Not Being Entertained? This Drop of Open-Play Goals from Open Play Wolves recorded 10 fewer goals from open play compared to this point the previous campaign. A key narrative of the EPL season so far has been the decline of goals scored in open play and the way teams are finding goals more from set-pieces as an alternative. Comparing how goals have been scored to the first 11 games last season, we see 39 fewer goals in open play and an increase of 26 from team set-pieces and penalties, leading to 13 fewer in total. Considering the bigger picture, shot attempts clubs are making reveal a staggering drop of 370 in open-play than this time last season. Even with the big increase in set-play finishes, there have actually been a mere two extra attempts created from these situations outside of penalties, demonstrating the proficiency sides have been at discovering methods to score from set-pieces. Goal Statistics Tell a Story Over 300 goals scored in the first 110 fixtures up to now calculates at 2.74 goals each match, which if it continued for all 38 games would be the smallest for five years, since 2020-21 (2.69). But just 196 scores coming in open play translates to 1.78 per game and is on course to be the smallest for 16 years, back in 2009-10 (1.76). The 2009-10 season also marks the sole English top-flight season to experience goals scored more often from non-penalty set-pieces than this campaign's frequency of 0.77 per game (0.79). Which Teams Are Most Responsible? Regarding goals scored from open play, Wolverhampton Wanderers have seen the largest drop, registering only four in their first 11 fixtures, 10 fewer than this point last season. Outside of Wolverhampton, the EPL's drop in goals from open play is very much a London phenomenon, with half of the city's seven teams scoring at least five fewer goals from open-play than the prior season. Honestly, that's largely down to them scoring lots of goals at the start of last season instead of them having difficulty to score in open play the current term. Meanwhile Manchester City have experienced the largest rise, with all but one of their 23 goals so far originating in open-play. Set-Piece Success Comparing clubs that came up with the relegated sides they replaced. Play-off winners Sunderland have recorded an additional three goals in open play than the Saints did in matchday 11 leading to demotion the previous campaign. In terms of goals scored from set-pieces (excluding penalties), the Gunners and the Blues have experienced the largest rise, with both sides replacing the reduction of five goals that they've scored in open-play with identical figures from dead-ball chances. Manchester United have scored two times more goals from set-pieces as they achieved in the 11 games last season before the manager took over, while the Black Cats additionally have been more successful at converting than the fellow red-and-whites they replaced. City appear not to have received the memo about increasing scoring from set-pieces, as they've netted three less than the previous campaign, like Forest, though this may result from the change in style they're working to install. League-Wide Trends Six sides – Arsenal, the Blues, the Cottagers, Newcastle, Tottenham and West Ham – are this term's primary examples by recording fewer goals from open-play and increased from set-pieces, while Manchester City are the only side to buck the trend to date by achieving the exact opposite. It will be interesting to observe if teams continue to place such emphasis on set-pieces as matches continue or if they rediscover their overall inventiveness and begin converting more goals in open-play too.