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A key narrative of the Premier League this campaign has been the decline of goals scored in open play and how teams are finding goals more from set-pieces as an alternative.

Looking at goal sources to the first 11 games the prior season, we note a drop of 39 goals in open-play and 26 more from team set-pieces and penalties, leading to 13 fewer in total.

If we look at the broader view, the number of shots teams are taking have seen an incredible drop of 370 in open-play than this time previously.

Even with the significant rise in set-piece goals, records show a mere two extra attempts created from these situations outside of spot-kicks, indicating the efficiency teams are at devising strategies to convert from dead-ball chances.

Scoring Rates Reveal a Story

301 total goals notched in the first 110 fixtures up to now calculates at nearly 2.75 goals per game, if this persists for all 38 games would be the lowest for half a decade, since 2020-21 (2.69).

Yet merely 196 goals scored in open-play equates to 1.78 each match and is heading to be the smallest for 16 seasons, since 2009-10 (1.76).

The 2009-10 season also marks the only Premier League season to experience goals scored more often from dead-balls without spot-kicks than this campaign's frequency of 0.77 per game (0.79).

What Clubs Account for This Change?

Regarding scoring from open play, Wolves have seen the largest drop, scoring only four in their first 11 fixtures, a reduction of 10 than at this stage last season.

Apart from Wolverhampton, England's top division's fall in open-play scoring is very much a London phenomenon, with half of the capital's seven sides recording five or more goals fewer from open-play than last season.

Honestly, that's largely down to them netting many scores at the beginning of the previous campaign instead of them really struggling to find the net in open play this campaign.

Meanwhile Manchester City have seen the most significant jump, with all but one of the 23 they've scored to date arriving in open play.

Dead-Ball Dominance

We've compared newly promoted sides with those that were relegated they replaced. Play-off champions Sunderland have netted three more scores in open play than Southampton 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 each team compensating for the reduction of five goals that they've produced in open-play with identical figures from set-pieces.

United have netted two times more goals from set-pieces as they did in matchday 11 last season ahead of Ruben Amorim took over, while Sunderland additionally prove more effective at converting than the club they replaced they replaced.

Manchester City seem unaware of the message about scoring more from set-pieces, as they've netted three less than the previous campaign, as have the Reds, though this may result from the change in style they're working to install.

Overall Patterns

Six clubs – the Gunners, Chelsea, Fulham, Newcastle, Tottenham and West Ham – have been the current campaign's leading trend-followers by netting less scores from open play and additional from set-pieces, while Man City represent the only side to go against the grain so far by performing the contrary.

It will be fascinating to watch if teams continue to depend greatly on set-pieces as the season goes on or if they rediscover their overall inventiveness and start scoring more goals in open-play as well.