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A major talking point of the EPL season so far has been the decline of scoring in open play and how teams are netting increasingly from set-plays instead.

Looking at scoring methods to the first 11 games the prior season, there have been a drop of 39 goals in open play and an increase of 26 from set-plays and penalties, leading to 13 fewer in total.

Examining the broader view, the number of shots teams are taking reveal a remarkable drop of 370 in open-play than this time last season.

Regardless of the notable jump in set-piece goals, we've actually seen just two more shots generated from them outside of penalties, showing the efficiency clubs have been at devising strategies to score from dead-ball chances.

Scoring Rates Show an Interesting Narrative

301 total goals scored in 110 games so far works out at nearly 2.75 goals each match, which if it continued for all 38 games might be the smallest for five years, back in 2020-21 (2.69 average).

Yet merely 196 scores scored in open play averages out 1.78 per fixture and is on course to be the least for 16 years, back in 2009-10 (1.76 per game).

That campaign also marks the only Premier League season to experience goals scored at a higher rate from non-penalty set-pieces than the current rate of 0.77 per fixture (0.79).

Which Teams Bear the Most Responsibility?

When it comes to scoring from open-play, Wolves have seen by far the biggest decrease, netting just four in 11 matches, 10 less than at this stage the previous campaign.

Excluding Wolverhampton, England's top division's drop in open-play scoring is predominantly a London phenomenon, with five out of the London's seven clubs netting a minimum of five less scores from open-play than last season.

Honestly, that's largely down to them scoring lots of scores at the early stages of last season rather than them having difficulty to score in open-play the current term.

Conversely Man City have recorded the most significant jump, with all but one of the 23 they've scored this season originating in open play.

Dead-Ball Dominance

Looking at newly promoted sides with those that were relegated that they superseded. Play-off winners the Black Cats have scored an additional three scores in open-play than the Saints achieved in their first 11 games on their way to the drop last season.

When it comes to goals scored from set-plays (aside from penalties), the Gunners and the Blues have recorded the largest rise, with both sides replacing the five less goals that they've produced in open play with the same number from set-pieces.

United have recorded two times more scores from set-pieces as they managed in the first 11 matches the previous campaign ahead of their coach took charge, while the Black Cats additionally have been more successful at scoring than the similar-colored team that went down.

City don't seem to have got the message about increasing scoring from set-pieces, as they've scored three fewer than last season, like Forest, even if this may result from the change in style they have tried to implement.

General Tendencies

Six teams – the Gunners, Chelsea, the Cottagers, Newcastle, Tottenham and the Hammers – are the current campaign's top trend-setters by recording fewer scores from open play and additional from set-plays, while Manchester City stand as the unique club to buck the trend to date by performing the complete reverse.

It will be fascinating to watch if clubs continue to depend greatly on set-plays as the season goes on or if they regain their overall inventiveness and begin converting additional scores in open play as well.