You’ll probably know which players top the Premier League charts for goals and clean sheets this season, but how about the more unusual metrics? Matt Furniss of Opta Analyst has studied the quirkier statistics and reveals who the leaders are here.
Best 1v1 defender against dribblers - Maxence Lacroix (87.0 per cent)
We're able to assess the best defenders against dribblers by looking at the total number of "true tackles" attempted by players. This is a sum of successful tackles (where the ball is regained or goes out of play), challenges lost (where a player tries to tackle and doesn’t connect with the ball) and fouls when attempting a tackle.
Of players to have faced at least 20 opponent dribbles, Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix has the highest success rate (20/23 – 87 per cent), just ahead of his central defensive partner Marc Guehi (22/27 – 81.5 per cent).
Meanwhile, Kieran Trippier has the lowest success rate in stopping opposition dribblers. The Newcastle United full-back has won just 32.3 per cent of his one-v-one battles, committing a foul 10 times and seeing his opponent dribble past him on another 11 occasions.
Long throws into opposition’s box - Michael Kayode (54)
Long throws are back in fashion. That makes Michael Kayode even more important than usual, with the Brentford defender chucking more of them into the opposition’s box than any other player in the Premier League this season.
Kayode has launched 54 long throws into the opposition’s box in 2025/26, eight more than second-placed Nordi Mukiele and 25 more than Chris Richards in third.
More importantly, six of his long throws into the penalty area have led to a shot – four more than any other player – and two have led to goals for the Bees.
Expected Assists (xA) from open play - Jack Grealish (2.47)
Jack Grealish tops the open-play assist charts with four in 2025/26, but sometimes assists can be misleading.
In order to assess the true creative quality of a player’s passes, Expected Assists offers a deeper understanding of how likely a pass is to become an assist.
Expected Assists (xA) is measured on a scale between zero and one, where zero represents a pass that will never result in an assist, and one represents a pass that the receiver would be expected to score from every single time.
This season, Grealish’s Premier League passes in open play have totalled 2.47 xA, higher than any other player in the division.
Interestingly for Everton fans, another of their players ranks second in this metric: Iliman Ndiaye (2.40), just ahead of Man City’s Jeremy Doku (2.14) and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (1.94)
High pressures applied in the final third - Igor Thiago (270)
Igor Thiago endured a frustrating first season at Brentford. Hindered by injury, the forward played just 168 minutes across eight appearances in the Premier League.
Now fit, the Brazilian has become an integral part of Keith Andrews’ side and only Haaland (14) has scored more goals than Thiago (eight) across the opening 11 Matchweeks of 2025/26.
Thiago works incredibly hard off the ball, too. He leads the Premier League rankings for high pressures applied across the whole pitch (609).
But more importantly for his role in the Bees’ side, he also leads the charts when looking specifically at high pressures applied in the final third of the pitch (270).
Highest Expected Goals (xG) total without scoring - Igor Jesus (1.86)
Igor Jesus hasn’t had a problem scoring for Nottingham Forest in cup competitions this season.
The 24-year-old Brazilian forward has scored five goals from 13 shots across the EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League, but the Premier League has been a more difficult proposition for him.
He’s yet to score in 10 league matches since joining Forest in the summer from Botafogo, despite also having 13 shots in the top flight. In fact, he is the player to have the highest xG figure in the competition this season without scoring (1.86).
One positive for the Forest forward is he isn’t the player with the most shots without scoring in the Premier League in 2025/26. That is AFC Bournemouth’s David Brooks (16 shots, 0 goals).
Most shot involvements without a goal or assist - Florian Wirtz (28)
It’s been a tricky start to life in England for Florian Wirtz. The Germany international signed for Liverpool in the summer from Bayer Leverkusen in a deal that reportedly could be worth £116 million, but he’s yet to show the form that made the Reds so keen to secure his signature.
Some of the criticism of Wirtz has been warranted, but a lot seems harsh on a young player acclimatising to a new country. The fact of the matter stands, however - Wirtz hasn’t yet delivered in the Premier League.
Across his 11 league appearances for Liverpool, none of the 16 chances he has created have been converted to goals by his team-mates, which is hardly on him, but he’s also recorded 12 shots without success.
Thierry Henry, a Premier League Hall of Fame inductee, struggled at the start of his career in England. In his first season at Arsenal, when he was the same age as Wirtz is now (22), he produced only one goal and no assists in his first 12 appearances. But then things started to click, and we know the rest…
First-time shots from open play - Erling Haaland (26)
Erling Haaland has been in electric form this season, plundering 14 goals in the opening 11 matches to top the Premier League scoring charts.
But we all know how good he is at scoring goals, and this season’s feats have hardly come as a surprise.
What might be more surprising is how often he takes first-time shots in open play.
Of his 44 open-play shots this season, 26 have come without any prior touch (59.1 per cent) and eight of his 14 goals have come with a first-time finish. That’s more than any other player in the league, but only just.
Jean-Philippe Mateta has had 30 shots in open play, and 25 of those have been first-time attempts (83.3 per cent).
Most shots from outside the box without scoring - Bruno Fernandes (12)
Bruno Fernandes hasn’t had much luck from shooting outside the box this season. The Portuguese has attempted 12 shots from range without success, coming closest in the Matchweek 10 draw at Forest, with his low shot striking the foot of a post.
The fact that only former Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne (15) has scored more goals from outside the box in the Premier League than Fernandes (14) since the Manchester United captain’s debut in February 2020, suggests his luck will eventually change.
Maybe it’s time for Fernandes to come off free-kicks, though; he’s only scored with three of the 60 shots he has attempted from free-kicks in the Premier League (five per cent), including two unsuccessful efforts in 2025/26.
Most carries ending with shot involvement - Cody Gakpo (20)
Cody Gakpo has caused opposition defences problems with his direct running this season, and the Dutch forward leads the Premier League rankings for the most shot involvements (20) following a ball carry of at least five metres.
Twelve of those 20 involvements have been shots from Gakpo himself, with the other eight being chances he created for a team-mate after running with the ball.
Gakpo is behind Man Utd’s Matheus Cunha (15) when we only look at the number of shots following ball carries, while the leading players for chances created following ball carries are Callum Hudson-Odoi and Doku (11).
Most carries ending in opposition’s box - Jeremy Doku (72)
As highlighted above, Doku has shown how dangerous he is when running with the ball, leading the rankings for chances created following a ball carry (11).
There aren’t many players, if any, who can wriggle their way through tight spaces to create chances as well as the Belgian winger, and his ball-carrying ability has enabled him to burst into the opposition’s penalty area more often than anyone else.
Doku leads the Premier League rankings for ball carries ending in the opposition’s box (72), with his tally being 19 more than the next highest players, Grealish and Gakpo (53).
Most carries ending in opposition penalty area 25/26
| Player | Total carries |
| Jeremy Doku (MCI) | 72 |
|---|---|
| Jack Grealish (EVE), Cody Gakpo (LIV) | 53 |
| Callum Hudson-Odoi (NFO) | 49 |
| Alejandro Garnacho (CHE) | 37 |
| Kevin (FUL) | 29 |
| Leandro Trossard (ARS) | 28 |
| Kevin Schade (BRE), Noah Okafor (LEE), Hugo Bueno (WOL) | 25 |
Most touches without one being in opposition’s box - Carlos Baleba (371)
Eleven different players have scored a Premier League goal for Brighton & Hove Albion this season, but maybe don’t expect midfielder Carlos Baleba to join that group any time soon.
That’s because, despite having 371 touches of the ball across 11 appearances in the competition this season, none of them have come inside the opposition’s penalty area.
That’s the most touches by an outfield player without any of them being taken in the opposition’s box this season, 79 more than the next highest tally, Axel Tuanzebe's 292.
Across his Premier League career, Baleba’s only had 19 of his 3,230 touches in the opposition’s box (0.006 per cent) and none have come in his last 14 league appearances for the Seagulls.
Most fouls without being given a card - Ryan Sessegnon (20)
Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon could be considered the most fortunate player to not have entered the referee’s notebook this season as he’s committed 20 fouls without receiving a single yellow or red card, four more than Pape Matar Sarr (16) and five more than team-mate Raul Jimenez (15).
Going back to last season, none of Sessegnon’s last 25 fouls have been punished with a card; he last received a yellow card on 3 May 2025, from referee Rob Jones, in a match against Aston Villa.
At the other end of the scale, three players have committed fewer than 10 fouls but still been given four yellow cards this season: Alex Jimenez (five fouls), Tim Iroegbunam (six) and James Garner (eight).
Most possession regains leading to shots - Idrissa Gueye (10)
Idrissa Gueye might not rank inside the Premier League’s top 10 players for possession won, tackles or interceptions in 2025/26, but when he does win the ball back from opponents, Everton make his efforts worthwhile.
Gueye has started 10 separate shot-ending possession sequences for Everton by winning the ball back from opponents, more than any other player in the league this season.
Add in instances where he’s recovered a loose ball and his tally is still the highest in the league (17).
Most chances created from open-play crosses - Hugo Bueno (nine)
Considering Wolverhampton Wanderers have fired in 20 more successful open-play crosses than any other team in the Premier League this season, it’ll come as no shock to see one of their players as the leading creator in such scenarios.
Back following a loan spell at Feyenoord last season, Hugo Bueno has been attacking on the left flank for Wolves in 2025/26. Despite a poor start to the season for the team, he’s been one bright spark.
Bueno leads the Premier League rankings for attempted (52) and successful (21) open-play crosses, with a league-high nine of those creating chances for team-mates, while he also tops the rankings for xA from such scenarios (0.87).
Most kilometres run - Granit Xhaka (124.06km)
Sunderland have started the season brilliantly, and arguably no player has stood out more for them than the experienced Granit Xhaka.
And curiously, although no spring chicken at 33 years old, he’s covered more ground than any other player in the Premier League this season, running 124.06km.
That total is 1.62km more than Forest’s Elliot Anderson, while Xhaka’s team-mate Noah Sadiki (122.33km) ranks third in the Premier League after 11 Matchweeks.
Shots with first contact following corners - Dan Ballard (six)
Sunderland centre-back Dan Ballard has scored twice this season in the Premier League, but somewhat surprisingly, neither goal came following a corner.
That’s surprising because no player in the Premier League this campaign has had more shots as the first contact following a corner than Ballard (six).
All six of his attempts have been headed, but unlike his goal from open play in the Matchweek 1 win over West Ham, none have found the net.
Ballard is the only player to have attempted more shots as a first contact from a corner than Haaland (five), who leads the league ranking for the most attacking first contacts overall (11), ahead of Leeds United defender Joe Rodon (10).
Minutes played as a substitute - Emiliano Buendia (200)
Emiliano Buendia has been a handy option off the bench for Villa this season.
The Argentine has played more minutes as a substitute than any other player in the top flight in 2025/26 (200), and his impact has made a difference to Unai Emery's side.
No player has been involved in more goals as a substitute than he has (three – two goals, one assist), while he also leads the rankings for shot involvements as a sub (11 – six shots, five chances created) alongside Omari Hutchinson and Estevao.
In fact, Buendia has been involved in more goals as a sub (three in 200 minutes) than he has as a starter (two in 229 minutes) for Villa this season.
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