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A major talking point of England's top flight season so far is the reduction of goals scored in open-play scenarios and the way teams are finding goals more from dead-ball situations as an alternative.

Comparing scoring methods to matchday 11 the prior season, there have been 39 fewer goals in open-play and 26 more from team set-pieces and spot-kicks, resulting in 13 less altogether.

Examining overall statistics, shot attempts teams are taking reveal an incredible drop of 370 in open-play than at this stage previously.

And despite the notable jump in set-piece goals, we've actually seen just two more attempts produced from them outside of penalties, indicating how effective clubs are at devising strategies to net from dead-ball chances.

Scoring Rates Reveal the Tale

301 total goals notched in the first 110 fixtures so far calculates at 2.74 scores per game, if this persists for the entire campaign might be the least for since 2020-21, back in 2020-21 (2.69 per game).

Yet merely 196 goals scored in open-play equates to 1.78 per game and is tracking to be the least for 16 seasons, from 16 years ago (1.76).

That campaign additionally represents the only Premier League campaign to experience goals scored at a higher rate from dead-balls without spot-kicks than the current rate of 0.77 per fixture (0.79 per game).

What Clubs Account for This Change?

When it comes to scoring from open-play, Wolves have seen the most significant drop, scoring only four in 11 games, 10 fewer than this point the previous campaign.

Apart from Wolverhampton, the Premier League's fall in goals from open play is very much a trend among London clubs, with five of the capital's seven sides netting five or more fewer goals from open play than the prior season.

In fairness, this is primarily due to them netting many scores at the start of last season rather than them having difficulty to score in open play this season.

Meanwhile Man City have seen the most significant jump, with almost every one of their 23 scores this season originating in open-play.

Set-Piece Success

Looking at the promoted teams with the teams that went down they took the place of. Sunderland the Black Cats have scored three extra scores in open play than Southampton did in their first 11 games on their way to relegation last season.

Regarding goals scored from set-plays (not counting penalties), Arsenal and Chelsea have seen the largest rise, with both sides replacing the five fewer scores that they've scored in open-play with identical figures from set-pieces.

Manchester United have scored twice as many scores from set-plays as they managed in the 11 games last season before the manager took over, while Sunderland additionally prove more effective at netting than the club they replaced they superseded.

City don't seem to have got the memo about scoring more from set-pieces, as they've netted three less than last season, as have the Reds, even if this could be because of the altered approach they've attempted to adopt.

League-Wide Trends

Six sides – the Gunners, the Blues, Fulham, the Magpies, Spurs and West Ham – represent this season's top trend-setters by netting less goals from open-play and increased from set-pieces, while Manchester City stand as the sole team to go against the grain so far by achieving the exact opposite.

It will be interesting to watch if sides carry on to place such emphasis on set-plays as the season goes on or if they rediscover their all-round creativity and begin scoring increased totals in open play too.