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One of the biggest stories of the EPL season so far concerns the decline of scoring in open play and how teams are finding goals increasingly from set-plays instead.

Looking at how goals have been scored 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, resulting in 13 fewer overall.

Considering the bigger picture, efforts on goal 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 just two more attempts produced from them outside of penalties, showing the efficiency teams have been at devising strategies to score from dead-ball chances.

Goal Statistics Reveal the Tale

Over 300 goals scored in 110 matches up to now averages out at 2.74 goals per game, if this persists for the entire campaign could be the lowest for since 2020-21, from five seasons ago (2.69 average).

Yet merely 196 scores scored in open-play translates to 1.78 per fixture and is heading to be the smallest for 16 years, since 2009-10 (1.76).

The 2009-10 season additionally represents the sole English top-flight season to experience goals scored more frequently from dead-balls without spot-kicks than this season's rate of 0.77 per game (0.79 average).

Which Sides Account for This Change?

In terms of goals scored from open-play, Wolves have recorded by far the biggest decline, scoring just four in 11 matches, a reduction of 10 than this point the previous campaign.

Outside of Wolves, the EPL's drop in open-play scoring is largely a trend among London clubs, with five out of the city's seven teams recording five or more fewer goals from open-play than the prior season.

Honestly, this is mainly because them netting many scores at the beginning of the previous campaign rather than them really struggling to find the net in open play the current term.

At the same time Manchester City have recorded the largest rise, with nearly all of the 23 they've scored so far coming in open-play.

Set-Play Proficiency

Looking at clubs that came up with the relegated sides they took the place of. Play-off winners the Black Cats have scored three extra goals in open play than the Saints did in their opening 11 matches en route to demotion last season.

When it comes to goals scored from dead-ball situations (not counting spot-kicks), the Gunners and the Blues have seen the largest rise, with the two clubs compensating for the five fewer scores that they've scored in open play with identical figures from set-pieces.

United have scored two times more scores from set-plays as they did in matchday 11 the previous campaign prior to their coach took charge, while the Black Cats additionally have been more successful at scoring than the club they replaced that went down.

Manchester City don't seem to have got the memo about scoring more from set-plays, because they've netted a reduction of three than last season, as have Nottingham Forest, though that might be down to the change in style they have tried to implement.

General Tendencies

Six clubs – the Gunners, the Blues, the Cottagers, Newcastle, Spurs and West Ham – represent the current campaign's primary examples by recording fewer scores from open play and more from set-pieces, while Man City are the sole team to buck the trend so far by performing the complete reverse.

It remains to be seen to see if clubs persist to place such emphasis on set-plays as matches continue or if they rediscover their overall inventiveness and commence converting more goals in open-play too.