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A major talking point of England's top flight this campaign has been the decline of goals scored in open play and the way teams are finding goals more from dead-ball situations as an alternative.

Looking at goal sources to matchday 11 last season, we note a drop of 39 scored in open-play and 26 more from set-plays and spot-kicks, giving us 13 less in total.

Examining the bigger picture, the number of shots teams are taking reveal a staggering drop of 370 in open play than this time previously.

Even with the significant rise in dead-ball scores, there have actually been only two additional attempts generated from these situations excluding penalties, indicating the efficiency clubs are at devising strategies to net from set-pieces.

Goal Statistics Tell a Story

301 total goals recorded in 110 matches to date averages out at 2.74 goals each match, if maintained for the whole season would be the lowest for half a decade, back in 2020-21 (2.69).

Yet merely under 200 goals scored in open-play translates to 1.78 each match and is on course to be the smallest for 16 years, back in 2009-10 (1.76).

The 2009-10 season additionally represents the only Premier League season to experience scoring more often from non-penalty set-pieces than this campaign's frequency of 0.77 per game (0.79).

What Clubs Are Most Responsible?

In terms of goals scored from open-play, Wolverhampton Wanderers have experienced the most significant decline, netting just four in 11 matches, 10 less than this point the previous campaign.

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

To be fair, that's largely down to them scoring many goals at the beginning of the previous campaign instead of them really struggling to convert in open-play the current term.

At the same time Manchester City have experienced the biggest increase, with almost every one of their 23 scores this season arriving in open play.

Dead-Ball Dominance

Comparing clubs that came up with the teams that went down they replaced. Play-off champions Sunderland have scored an additional three goals in open play than Southampton achieved in their opening 11 matches on their way to demotion the previous campaign.

In terms of goals scored from dead-ball situations (aside from spot-kicks), the Gunners and Chelsea have seen the largest rise, with the two clubs replacing the reduction of five goals that they've scored in open play with an equal amount from set-pieces.

United have netted double the number goals from set-plays as they did in the 11 games the previous campaign before the manager took over, while Sunderland again are more effective at converting than the similar-colored team they replaced.

Man City appear not to have received the memo about increasing scoring from set-pieces, since they've recorded three less than the previous campaign, similar to Forest, though that might be down to the altered approach they have tried to implement.

League-Wide Trends

Six sides – the Gunners, Chelsea, Fulham, Newcastle, Tottenham and West Ham – have been the current campaign's top trend-setters by netting less goals from open play and additional from set-plays, while Manchester City stand as the unique club to go against the grain up to now by doing the exact opposite.

It will be fascinating to watch if sides continue to depend greatly on set-plays as the campaign progresses or if they find again their general attacking flair and commence netting more goals in open-play too.