The Season So Far - Part 1 (Goals)

We’re now eight games into the 2020/2021 Premier League season, which has somehow been interceded by two international breaks already. Now, I’ll be honest, I hate international breaks. They’re awful. Slow, dull and diplomatic — and during a global pandemic? Unnecessary.

They are, however, a useful checkpoint. A weekend break of the usual chaos and controversy to have a look back and assess the season so far — and we have had more than our fair share of both chaos and controversy thus far…

From handballs to nine goal thrillers. VAR, blue and red lines, shirt sleeves and everything inbetween. The first eight gameweeks have given us plenty of talking points, and plenty of entertainment. Wasn’t VAR meant to end the controversy?

Goals

The season so far — and in particular the first 4/5 gameweeks — have been characterised by one thing: Goals. Lots of ’em. Even after the most recent calming of the storm, in which football returned almost to normal — in terms of goals anyway — teams are hitting the back of the net at record pace, with the 78 games producing 245 goals: that’s an average of 3.14 goals per game. The most prolific season in the history of the Premier League was the 2018/19 season, with 1,072 goals in 380 games — 2.82 goals per game.

This is even after the levelling of the goal curve during the weeks following the first international break. During the 4 week period, in which the first 38 games were played, Jurgen Klopp, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Pep Guardiola all suffered their worst ever defeats at their respective clubs — with Liverpool shipping 7 against Aston Villa in an astonishing 9-goal thriller, United having a nightmare at the theatre of dreams and conceding 6 to Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham, with just 1 in reply, and City falling victim to an in form Leicester City side who bagged 5 against the Sky Blues, with just 2 goals for consolation.

This month of madness saw a total of 144 goals scored, averaging a ludicrous 3.79 goals per game — almost an extra goal a game compared to the 18/19 record season.

_{^{Source: Twitter @premierleague}}

But what has caused this? What determining factor has lead to this goal-fest? How do we explain Liverpool slamming 4 past Leeds on the opening weekend, before conceding 7 at home to Aston Villa? that same Aston Villa with which Leeds’ Patrick Bamford bagged a hat-trick against just two weeks later?

Well, the obvious difference between this season and all seasons prior, is fans — or lack of. The explanation goes, that with empty stadiums — and no fans to blast your №9 when he scuffs a header wide — forwards are free from the shackles of pressure, almost as if playing in the judgement free utopia of a training match.

This same freedom may be radiating through entire teams. Fortresses such as Old Trafford and Anfield have more recently become playgrounds for visiting players, with creators like Jack Grealish or finishers like Danny Ings roaming free of worry and responsibility, expressing themselves in the purest form without being lambasted by the Kop or Stretford End loyals.

The fearlessness that runs through previously regarded ‘mid-table’ sides is making for box-office clashes. Typified by the styles of Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton, or Graham Potter’s Brighton, ‘the other 14’ are taking games to the big 6 and facing them head on, inevitably leading to a mass of goals both for and against.

^{Source: Twitter @other14the}

The most obvious example is that unbelievable 9-goal game at Villa Park, as Dean Smith’s Aston Villa obliterated Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Ollie Watkins bagged a hat-trick that Sunday, but tactically, Smith was the star-man. Villa produced an emphatic display that included relentless pressing of Liverpool and an inch perfect exploitation of their high line.

Leeds attempted the same level of intensity, with less success, but loads of goals, at Anfield — Eventually losing 4–3 to the Reds after a late penalty concession, but setting the tone of the weeks to come.

Both West Brom and Southampton took the game to Frank Lampard’s Chelsea in the early stages, and both earned 3–3 draws against this summer’s big spenders. Whilst David Moyes’ West Ham masterminded brilliant results against Man City (1–1) and famously, Tottenham Hotspur (3–3), whilst Graham Potter’s Brighton took the game to Manchester United and dominated at the AMEX, before succumbing to an unfortunate penalty — given after full-time — and losing 3–2.

It’s this fearlessness amongst the aforementioned teams’ players and managers that is taking the game to the big boys. It might not always be entirely successful, but it’s hugely entertaining.

Further contributing to the early-season goal fest was the questionable hand-ball rule — or more specifically, the dreaded word: interpretation. During the first few weeks of the season, that word — interpretation — wreaked havoc amongst Premier League fixtures, with penalties being given for handball at a frankly absurd rate. Taking the rate of penalties given for handball after the first 3 weeks, and extrapolating for the rest of the season projected a total of 88 penalties predicted to be given just for handball — the previous season saw just 19.

Most notable victims of the interpretation were Victor Lindelof vs Crystal Palace, Joel Ward vs Everton and Eric Dier vs Newcastle — who all fell victim to the complete disregard for proximity, body position, and in some cases, wether they were even looking the right way…

Luckily, the relentless pressure on the match officials forced a tweak in the interpretation of the handball rule, and the rate of penalisation for handball has dropped considerably since — interestingly, the rate of goals has followed suit.

But these penalties did significantly increase the amount of goals scored during the first few weeks of the season. They certainly gave us plenty to talk about.

It’s hard to place your finger on exactly why this season has seen more goals, and it’s hard to predict wether this will carry through or level-off as we go into the winter period.

Wether it’s empty stadiums, more aggressive teams, interpretations, or just plain coincidence, this season’s Premier League campaign has been thrilling thus far, and the goals have been flying in — and long may it continue.