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Do you remember which team scored the most goals in the Premier League last season?

How about the keeper who saved the most penalties, or the player who was caught offside the most?

Stats are a huge part of football. They are used for loads of different purposes, from enriching game commentary to predicting the risk a player may have of getting injured.

With the thrills and spills of a new season just around the corner, we asked Jonny Blain, Senior Football Statistician at the Premier League, to discuss some data from 2023-24 with us. He gave us a fascinating insight into how the pros use numbers, as well as a heads up of what and who to keep an eye on.

(And, in case you’re wondering: it was Manchester City with 96 goals scored; West Ham’s Alphonse Areola with 2 penalties saved; and the offside flag went up 33 times for Liverpool’s Darwin Núñez.)

1. There was a 14.9% increase in goals scored

A record number of goals were scored last season: 1,246, an average of 3.28 goals per game. It's a big jump from the previous season's 1,084 goals and average of 2.85, which had also set a record.

Jonny explains a likely reason for the increase is that games were longer, due to a decision to increase stoppage time to help with time keeping.

“With longer matches, there were 159 goals scored by subs, which was 27 more than any previous record,” he said.

“There was also a record number of goals scored in injury time.” By the end of April, the average match was three minutes and 13 seconds longer than the previous season, and 138 goals had been scored during stoppage time.

Last season’s record high shouldn’t come as a surprise, Jonny says. When looking at the data, there’s a clear upward curve of goals scored across all seasons. 2023-24 was also the only one so far with an average of over three goals per game.

The lowest average so far is 2.45 goals, and it came in the 2006/07 season.

2. Only 3% of games ended in 0-0

More goals also meant considerably fewer goalless draws in the Premier League, with just 11 in 380 games last season.

Before that, the lowest was in 2019/20, when there were 21.

Jonny says one team in particular stands out: it’s been over two full seasons since one of Tottenham's games ended in a nil-nil.

“Their last nil-nil was on 23 of April 2022," he said. In that time, adds Jonny, they have had four managers: Antonio Conte, interim managers Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason, and current manager Ange Postecoglou.

“They’ve also not had at a nil-nil in their new stadium in the league, with their last home league nil-nil coming when they were playing at Wembley,” added Jonny.

Quite something, considering the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened in 2019!

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3. An April shower of goals

Last season, game weeks 22 and 23 had the most goals scored across them. The first was at the end of January, with games taking place midweek, and the latter was at the start of February. The back-end part of the season is another period where we often see an increase, says Jonny.

“Goals are usually spread across the season; however, there are occasions where we see spikes, particularly around April time, towards the end of the season.

“International football breaks are over by that time and it’s when teams near the bottom start taking more risks," he explains.

Bonus: Three records to watch out for

In terms of individual records, there's one Jonny thinks is likely to be broken this season involving West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse: “He’s one behind David Beckham’s record for the most direct free kick goals” he said.

“Ward-Prowse has scored 17, with Beckham’s current record at 18.”

Jonny says there’s a record Manchester City’s Erling Haaland may also have in his sights, although this one could be more challenging.

“He scored 36 goals in his first season. If he repeats that plus one, he will reach 100 goals in three Premier League seasons.

“A bit of a stretch but he's done it before. He's on 63 goals and needs 37 to get to 100.”

Finally, Brighton’s James Milner could also be close to making history if he can top the all-time appearance record currently held by Gareth Barry.

“He overtook [Ryan] Giggs last season and is on 634 appearances, while Barry made 653, so he's 19 games behind him,” he said.

And if Milner were to play at least one game, it would be his 23rd consecutive Premier League season and would beat his current record of 22, which he shares with Giggs.

The Premier League kicks off on 16 August 2024. Head over to ����ý Sport for all the news, fixtures and results.

This article was published in August 2024