Football writer Adrian Clarke identifies the key trends so far this season.
We are now over a quarter of the way through the 2025/26 Premier League campaign, and some interesting trends are beginning to emerge.
Teams passing less
Many Premier League head coaches are searching for greater efficiency, and it has brought about a significant drop in the number of passes per match.
After 11 Matchweeks we are averaging 713 completed passes, the lowest figure since 2016/17.
That represents a 4.68 per cent drop from 2024/25, and a decrease of 8.59 per cent since the record high of 780 passes the season before.
In overall terms, we still have far more passes than we did in the 2000s, but the desire to produce patient possession football is undoubtedly on the wane right now.
Eleven of last season’s 17 remaining Premier League clubs are making fewer passes, with Bournemouth, Everton and Nottingham Forest the only teams to have made a conscious tactical effort to increase their possession.
Premier League completed passes by season
| Season | Matches played | Completed passes (Ave. per match) |
| 2003/04 | 380 | 545 |
|---|---|---|
| 2004/05 | 380 | 560 |
| 2005/06 | 380 | 540 |
| 2006/07 | 380 | 514 |
| 2007/08 | 380 | 527 |
| 2008/09 | 380 | 602 |
| 2009/10 | 380 | 578 |
| 2010/11 | 380 | 619 |
| 2011/12 | 380 | 690 |
| 2012/13 | 380 | 693 |
| 2013/14 | 380 | 716 |
| 2014/15 | 380 | 695 |
| 2015/16 | 380 | 686 |
| 2016/17 | 380 | 696 |
| 2017/18 | 380 | 714 |
| 2018/19 | 380 | 730 |
| 2019/20 | 380 | 732 |
| 2020/21 | 380 | 770 |
| 2021/22 | 380 | 732 |
| 2022/23 | 380 | 736 |
| 2023/24 | 380 | 780 |
| 2024/25 | 380 | 748 |
| 2025/26 | 110 | 713 |
Direct play is back in vogue
What this means in base terms is that more top-flight bosses are encouraging longer passes from back to front.
Getting the ball forward quicker, 12 of the remaining 17 Premier League sides from last season have upped the percentage of long passes they execute each match.
Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur under Thomas Frank are the teams who have become far more direct, as you can see in the table below.
Leaders Arsenal remain on the low side, with just 8.8 per cent of their passes classified as long, but there has also been a noteworthy increase of 1.5 per cent from Mikel Arteta’s men since last season.
Team long passes comparison
| Team | Long passes 2024/25 | Long passes 2025/26 | Rise |
| Man Utd | 9.8% | 13.4% | 3.6% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spurs | 7.3% | 10.7% | 3.4% |
| Wolves | 11.7% | 14.5% | 2.8% |
| Newcastle | 9.2% | 11.3% | 2.1% |
| Aston Villa | 8.7% | 10.4% | 1.7% |
| Brentford | 13.1% | 14.7% | 1.6% |
| Arsenal | 7.3% | 8.8% | 1.5% |
| Brighton | 9.4% | 10.6% | 1.2% |
| West Ham | 11.9% | 12.9% | 1.0% |
| Crystal Palace | 14.5% | 15.4% | 0.9% |
| Fulham | 10.5% | 11.3% | 0.8% |
| Man City | 6.0% | 6.6% | 0.6% |
Scroll across to see the full table on mobile
When you look at goal-ending long passes, Man Utd and Brentford (two sides who hit a lot of passes over distance) do have a pair of midfielders who are among the very best at releasing team-mates to score.
Bruno Fernandes and Mikkel Damsgaard have both produced four assists from long passes since the start of last season.
Assists from long passes in PL since start of 2024/25
| Player | Assists from long passes |
| Bruno Fernandes | 4 |
|---|---|
| Mikkel Damsgaard | 4 |
| Ederson | 4 |
| Youri Tielemans | 3 |
| Alex Iwobi | 3 |
| 24 other players | 2 |
Looking at the bigger picture, the overall percentage of long passes is now 11.5 per cent, compared with 10.5 per cent in the previous campaign.
As part of this, goal-kicks have witnessed a consequential change.
With some head coaches perhaps more concerned than before about losing the ball inside their own half playing out from the back, the mindset of risk v reward has altered in recent months.
Last season, 40.4 per cent of goal-kicks ended in the opposition half, but that has climbed to 48.2 per cent so far this season.
We are also seeing more than a third of passes end inside the final third (33.8 per cent), the highest proportion since 2010/11.
Heading for new records
We are on course to see the most headed goals since the stats were first recorded in 2003/04.
The number of crosses per game, and indeed the number of headed attempts, are both relatively standard compared to previous seasons, but players have been particularly clinical in the air this campaign.
Only twice have there been more than 200 headed goals scored in a season, with the record of 205 set back in 2010/11.
With 64 finding the back of the net already, we are on course for 221 headed goals this time around.
Most headed goals in a PL season
| Season | Total/90 |
| 2010/11 | 0.54 |
|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 0.43 |
| 2022/23 | 0.44 |
| 2023/24 | 0.53 |
| 2024/25 | 0.46 |
| 2025/26 | 0.58* |
*After 11 Matchweeks
A rise in set-piece goals has played a big part in this uplift (link to other piece here) and coupled with that, we are now seeing more managers selecting tall, target-man style centre-forwards too.
Who is best in the air?
Leaders Arsenal have scored the most goals via headers, and pleasingly for Arteta, they have come from seven different players.
Most headed goals this season
| Teams | Total |
| Arsenal | 7 |
|---|---|
| Spurs | 6 |
| Chelsea | 6 |
| Brighton | 5 |
| Man Utd | 5 |
With 21.3 per cent of all goals scored from headers so far this season, we are on course for a record share.
Last season, 15.6 per cent of all goals came via this method, so a huge climb is on the cards, with the previous high share of 19.3 per cent set in 2010/11.
Late drama aplenty
We are only 110 matches into 2025/26, but already we have witnessed 40 stoppage-time goals beyond the 90-minute mark.
That represents a 13.3 per cent share of all goals scored, which is a truly astonishing figure because the previous high, from two seasons ago, was just nine per cent.
Never have we witnessed as much late drama in Premier League games.
Goals in 90th-minute or later, last five seasons
| Season | Goals in 90+min | Per match |
| 2021/22 | 7.9% | 0.22 |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5.6% | 0.16 |
| 2023/24 | 9.0% | 0.29 |
| 2024/25 | 8.4% | 0.25 |
| 2025/26 | 13.3% | 0.36 |
Is this rise solely down to an increase in stoppage time? No.
While we are averaging six minutes and 48 seconds beyond the 90-minute mark - the second-highest number on record – it is almost a minute behind the levels seen in 2023/24.
Ave. second-half stoppage time played, last five seasons
| Season | Minutes | Seconds |
| 2021/22 | 4 | 49 |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 5 | 32 |
| 2023/24 | 7 | 29 |
| 2024/25 | 6 | 32 |
| 2025/26 | 6 | 48 |
Which teams utilise stoppage time best? As witnessed in last weekend’s thrilling 2-2 draw with Arsenal, Sunderland are a side that love to finish strong.
Regis Le Bris’ side have now gained five extra points thanks to goals scored in stoppage time.
Most second-half stoppage time goals, 25/26
| Teams | Total |
| Sunderland | 5 |
|---|---|
| Brentford | 4 |
| Arsenal | 3 |
| Brighton | 3 |
| Liverpool | 3 |
| Man Utd | 3 |
Sixteen clubs have scored in stoppage time.
Some of these late goals across the division have come when teams have punished opponents who are chasing a goal late on to seal victories.
Others have seen sides rewarded for pushing hard for late winners or equalisers.
Whichever way these goals are coming, it feels as if an increasing number of head coaches are prepared to show tactical bravery by taking risks towards the end of matches.
That is a healthy sign, and it is why the Premier League is so entertaining.