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A key narrative of the EPL this campaign is the reduction of goals scored in open-play scenarios and the way teams have been scoring increasingly from set-pieces as an alternative.

When we compare goal sources to the initial 11 matches the prior season, we note a drop of 39 goals in open play and 26 more from set-plays and penalties, resulting in 13 fewer in total.

Considering the bigger picture, efforts on goal teams are taking reveal a staggering 370 fewer in open play than at this stage previously.

Even with the notable jump in dead-ball scores, records show a mere two extra shots produced from these situations outside of penalties, demonstrating the efficiency teams are at discovering methods to score from set-pieces.

Scoring Rates Reveal the Tale

301 total goals scored in the first 110 fixtures to date works out at 2.74 scores per game, if maintained for the entire campaign could be the smallest for half a decade, from five seasons ago (2.69 per game).

Yet merely under 200 goals scored in open play averages out 1.78 per fixture and is tracking to be the lowest for 16 seasons, from 16 years ago (1.76 per game).

That campaign is also the sole English top-flight season to witness scoring more often from dead-balls without spot-kicks than the current rate of 0.77 each match (0.79 per game).

What Clubs Account for This Change?

Regarding scoring from open play, Wolves have seen the most significant decrease, scoring only four in 11 games, 10 fewer than this point the previous campaign.

Outside of Wolves, England's top division's drop in open-play scoring is largely a London thing, with half of the London's seven clubs scoring at least five less scores from open-play than the prior season.

To be fair, that's largely down to them scoring many scores at the early stages of last season as opposed to them having difficulty to find the net in open-play this season.

Conversely Man City have experienced the largest rise, with almost every one of the 23 they've scored this season coming in open-play.

Set-Piece Success

Comparing clubs that came up with the teams that went down they took the place of. Play-off champions the Black Cats have scored three more scores in open play than the Saints managed in their opening 11 matches leading to demotion last season.

When it comes to goals scored from set-pieces (aside from spot-kicks), Arsenal and Chelsea have experienced the most significant jump, with each team replacing the reduction of five scores that they've produced in open play with an equal amount from set-pieces.

Manchester United have scored two times more scores from set-plays as they achieved in matchday 11 the previous campaign ahead of their coach took charge, while Sunderland again have been more effective at scoring than the similar-colored team they replaced.

City seem unaware of the message about scoring more from set-plays, as they've netted a reduction of three than the previous campaign, like the Reds, though this may result from the change in style they've attempted to adopt.

League-Wide Trends

Six clubs – Arsenal, the Blues, the Cottagers, the Magpies, Spurs and West Ham – have been this term's leading trend-followers by recording fewer goals from open-play and additional from set-plays, while City represent the only side to go against the grain to date by doing the exact opposite.

It will be fascinating to observe if sides continue to depend greatly on set-pieces as the campaign progresses or if they find again their overall inventiveness and commence scoring additional scores in open-play too.