Long-range strikes and rising goals as early 2026-27 Premier League turns back to end-to-end play
Premier League teams have produced more goals and a return to end-to-end football in the opening weeks of the 2026-27 season, according to data published on 21 September 2026. The division’s goals-per-game average has climbed from 2.75 last season to 2.82 so far this year.
The recent uptick could widen: in four of the past five seasons the goals-per-game rate rose by at least 0.21 across the final 330 fixtures compared with the first 50, meaning a similar late-season surge would push 2026-27 towards becoming the second-highest scoring campaign in the Premier League era. Teams are covering more ground on average than in 2025-26, a trend that runs counter to expectations that goals should be scarcer early in the season when sides are fresher and more organised. Liverpool sit bottom of the division for distance covered per match but are nevertheless ahead of any club’s final average from last season.
The league’s patterns of transition play have shifted as well: Opta-defined fast-break (counterattack) shots increased from 1.75 per game in 2025-26 to 2.08 this season, a rate that would have been second only to the Bundesliga’s 2.26 last year. The report notes the rise is not solely down to Xabi Alonso and Marco Rose entering English football; Chelsea register 2.2 fast-break shots per game, Bournemouth 1.6, and Newcastle (managed by Matthias Jaissle) are joint-seventh on 1.0.
Shots and goals from outside the penalty area have become more prominent, with Brighton highlighted as an extreme example: they are already two goals shy of last season’s total of six scored from distance. Brighton produced a 2-0 lead against Arsenal on Saturday courtesy of long-range strikes, while Lewis Dunk scored "from way outside the box" at Coventry and Yasin Ayari also netted from beyond the 18-yard line in that same match.
Closer-range finishing has declined, driven in part by a drop in set-piece goals. Nine clubs have yet to score from a set play this season, including the champions, and a further two teams have only one such goal. Matches are averaging more shots from set plays than last term, rising from 7.8 to 8.2, yet the expected goals from those situations have fallen from 0.76 to 0.72 xG, with set-piece goals per game down from 0.71 to 0.56.
Results patterns reflect the greater volatility on the pitch: 2-2 is the joint-most common scoreline so far, occurring six times, and the first three of those involved pairs of clubs whose managers were both appointed in the summer. In five of the six 2-2 draws either both teams led during the match or one side took the lead twice before conceding two equalisers, while matches decided by two or more goals are less frequent and the share of draws has increased.
The season has only just begun, and the analysis notes these changing trends may stabilise; the report also points to the unusually large number of new managers at the start of the campaign as a possible contributing factor.