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A major talking point of England's top flight season so far concerns the drop of scoring in open play and how sides are finding goals more from set-plays as an alternative.

Comparing how goals have been scored to matchday 11 last season, there have been 39 fewer scored in open-play and an increase of 26 from set-plays and penalties, resulting in 13 fewer altogether.

Considering the bigger picture, shot attempts clubs are making show an incredible 370 fewer in open-play than at this stage last time out.

Even with the notable jump in set-piece goals, we've actually seen only two additional shots generated from them excluding penalties, indicating the efficiency clubs have been at finding ways to convert from set-pieces.

Goal Statistics Reveal an Interesting Narrative

301 total goals scored in 110 matches up to now calculates at nearly 2.75 goals per game, if this persists for all 38 games could be the lowest for five years, since 2020-21 (2.69 per game).

However, only under 200 goals scored in open play averages out 1.78 per game and is heading to be the lowest for 16 years, from 16 years ago (1.76 per game).

2009-10 is also the unique EPL 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 Teams Are Most Responsible?

In terms of scoring from open play, Wolves have seen by far the biggest decline, scoring a mere four in 11 games, a reduction of 10 than at this stage last season.

Outside of Wolverhampton, the EPL's fall in open play goals is very much a London phenomenon, with five of the capital's seven sides netting a minimum of five goals fewer from open play than last season.

To be fair, this is mainly because them netting numerous goals at the beginning of last season instead of their genuine struggle to convert in open play the current term.

Conversely Man City have experienced the largest rise, with all but one of their 23 scores so far arriving in open play.

Set-Piece Success

Looking at clubs that came up with the relegated sides that they superseded. Play-off winners the Black Cats have scored an additional three scores in open play than Southampton did in their first 11 games en route to demotion the previous campaign.

Regarding scoring from set-plays (excluding spot-kicks), the Gunners and Chelsea have recorded the largest rise, with both sides making up for the five fewer goals that they've scored in open play with identical figures from dead-ball situations.

United have scored twice as many goals from set-plays as they managed in the 11 games last season before Ruben Amorim took over, while the Black Cats again are better at scoring than the similar-colored team they replaced.

City seem unaware of the trend about netting additional goals from set-pieces, since they've scored three less than last season, as have Forest, although that might be down to the change in style they've attempted to adopt.

General Tendencies

Six sides – the Gunners, Chelsea, Fulham, Newcastle, Tottenham and the Hammers – represent the current campaign's leading trend-followers by netting less scores from open play and additional from set-plays, while City are the sole team to buck the trend to date by doing the contrary.

It will be fascinating to see if clubs carry on to place such emphasis on set-pieces as the campaign progresses or if they find again their overall inventiveness and start scoring increased totals in open play too.