The goals-per-game rate was at least 0.21 higher across the final 330 games than it was for the first 50 in four of the past five seasons.
Evidence of this can be seen in every team averaging more distance per match than they did in 2025-26.
While the uplift is not down to Xabi Alonso and Marco Rose joining English football, Chelsea and Bournemouth are among the top five for this metric.
Lewis Dunk nominated himself for goal of the season from way outside the box at Coventry, with Yasin Ayari also scoring from beyond the 18-yard line in that match.
5 sentences from our version of the report,
chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below.
How
Summarized version
The Premier League averaged the fewest Opta-defined fast break shots of Europe’s big five leagues in 2025-26, at 1.75 per game.
Headline check
One of the two things this headline claims did not turn up in the report.
“Andrew Beasley” is named in the headline. We could not find it in the report.
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The article, shortened and in plain language
Teams are running further and set-piece strikes are in decline as end-to-end football takes over the division.
Goals in the Premier League are up. The division is more open, in more ways than one.
The figures show a rise from 2.75 goals per game last season to 2.82 so far this year, which is a small average increase – but one that could widen. The goals-per-game rate was at least 0.21 higher across the final 330 games than it was for the first 50 in four of the past five seasons.
Goals should be harder to come by at this time of year when teams are fresher, more organised and less ragged. Their legs haven’t yet been drained by the December fixture pile-up or the demands of European football. Evidence of this can be seen in every team averaging more distance per match than they did in 2025-26.
Liverpool are bottom of the division for this metric yet are ahead of any club’s final figure from last season.
While the uplift is not down to Xabi Alonso and Marco Rose joining English football, Chelsea and Bournemouth are among the top five for this metric.
Brighton are an example of this as they are already just two goals shy of their tally of six last season. Lewis Dunk nominated himself for goal of the season from way outside the box at Coventry, with Yasin Ayari also scoring from beyond the 18-yard line in that match. Something must fall to allow this rise; close-range goals have declined in 2026-27.
Set-piece goals falling is the inevitable by-product.
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