More Long Balls, Fewer High Turnovers, and Set-Piece Reliance: Are Premier League Teams Going More Direct? ...Middle East

After five matchdays of the 2025-26 Premier League season, we look into claims that teams have become more direct in their play.

Football tends to go in cycles.

It seems like only yesterday that we were talking about playing out from the back, an obsession with passing opponents into submission, and the effectiveness of high pressing.

However, even casual Premier League fans will have noticed a bit of a shift in the early weeks of the 2025-26 season.

With Manchester City taking a more, shall we say, industrial approach than usual in their 1-1 draw at Arsenal, who themselves aren’t exactly a reboot of Pep Guardiola’s 2010 Barcelona team, it brought greater focus on football style trends.

We recently looked at some of those, including the reemergence of long throws and reduction in short goal-kicks.

It appears as though quite a few teams are adapting their methods this season, however, so we wanted to do some more digging to see how different things really are.

Of course, we’re only 50 games into a 380-game campaign, so this is a fairly small sample size and there is plenty of time for numbers to change. But as things stand, there are some noticeable differences between the football we’re seeing now and what we’ve had in the past year or two.

So, without further ado, it’s time to put our wet suits on – we’re going for a deep dive.

Pass the Ball, But Not Too Much…

In recent years, passing seems to have become more intricate than ever, with teams trying to work their way beyond the opposition’s press or through a low block.

It has generally led to an increase in passes. A statistical quirk you may be unaware of is that on record (since 2003-04), the Premier League season with most passes attempted in was 2020-21 (an average of 945.2 passes per game), when almost all games were played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That was likely due to players feeling a bit less urgency without having fans roaring them on.

That said, the average in the 2023-24 season came close to matching that (941.0), so teams were seemingly evolving in that direction even with fans in attendance.

However, that reduced to 893.4 passes per game last season, and in 2025-26, games are averaging just 849.1 passes. That is the lowest average since 2010-11 (820.1), so it seems teams are now going for a ‘less is more’ approach in the main.

It doesn’t mean they’re necessarily playing more risky passes, though. Passing accuracy across the league is still at its third highest on record (82.6%), perhaps suggesting teams are just being a bit more patient and slower in their build-up. We have seen quite a few examples of centre-backs happy to hold onto the ball for long periods until a passing option opens up or they’re pressed, which could partly explain these numbers.

Either way, teams are passing the ball less but not yet sacrificing overall accuracy, so does that mean passing sequences are getting shorter and more direct?

Going Direct?

Taking data from the 17 ever-present teams in the Premier League since the start of last season, we can see that 11 are averaging fewer passes per sequence in the early stages of 2025-26 than they were in 2024-25.

Eleven are also attacking upfield at a greater speed, while seven are doing both. These teams are getting the ball forward quicker than last season, and they are doing so in fewer passes, including Manchester United, Brighton, Newcastle, Brentford, Liverpool and Arsenal.

As you can see, Man City are one of the more interesting movers, going from 5.12 passes per sequence last season to 3.97 this, while also increasing their direct speed upfield from 1.43 metres per second to 1.61. A lot of that will have been impacted by their more direct approach against Arsenal on Sunday.

Not everyone is going more direct, though. Nottingham Forest, firstly under Nuno Espírito Santo and now with Ange Postecoglou, have increased their passes per sequence from the lowest in the league (2.88) to the second most (4.20). They have also gone from the fastest team in the league in terms of direct speed upfield (2.04m/s) to the joint-sixth slowest.

Brentford have become the most direct team in terms of passes per sequence (2.84), while Chelsea have been the most intricate (4.52).

Bournemouth, Everton and Wolves have significantly slowed down compared to last season, with mixed results to say the least. Wolves are the slowest, with direct speed upfield of just 1.46m/s, and are bottom of the table, while high-flying Crystal Palace are the fastest attackers (2.02m/s).

One of the more surprising things is that Tottenham haven’t really changed much either in terms of directness, despite going from Postecoglou to Thomas Frank. The only difference really being that they’re moving upfield a little quicker.

The only team who have basically maintained the same numbers as last season are Aston Villa. But with just three points, one goal and no victories to their name, they are perhaps not the best advert for the status quo.

Go Long

Moving back to passing, we wanted to see if teams are attempting more long balls this season. A long ball/pass is a pass that travels at least 32 metres.

We have certainly seen some sensational throw-back kick-offs where Premier League sides have done their best impression of a mid-nineties Beazer Homes League team and launched their kick-off straight out for a throw-in deep inside the opponents’ half.

Fewer passes this season may also mean less passing out from the back. After all, there has been an average of 99.7 long balls per game this season in the Premier League, up from 93.4 across the whole of last season.

Before you get too excited, though, in the 2023-24 campaign the average was 101.3, and it was 104.4 the season before that.

For those interested, excluding goalkeepers, Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi has played the most long balls this season in the Premier League, with 73 of his 279 attempted passes being classified as ‘long’.

More long balls would likely lead to shorter passing sequences, so let’s look at that next.

The 2024-25 season saw passing sequences last for an average of 10.4 seconds, with an average progress upfield of 12.6 metres. Those numbers might seem a bit dry, so let’s moisten them up for you (and get past the fact we just used the word ‘moisten’).

Passing sequences in the Premier League this season have lasted almost a full second less (9.6 secs), while the average progress upfield has reduced by half a metre (12.1m). In fact, average sequence progress is currently as short as it has been in any of last 10 seasons. With sequences not getting teams quite as far, it could be because they are trying more direct routes of advancement.

Something that can disrupt passing sequences are high turnovers, which is when a team wins possession in open play 40m or less from the opponents’ goal.

We have certainly seen plenty of them in the era of high pressing, so could that be why we’re getting shorter passing sequences?

Possibly, but not because teams are successfully turning the ball over. It could be that the threat of them is playing a part, though, as we’re actually seeing significantly fewer high turnovers this season.

In the 2023-24 campaign, there was an average of 16.7 high turnovers per game, the most in the last 10 Premier League seasons. That dipped to 14.6 last season, and is down at just 11.5 in 2025-26, the fewest in the last 10 seasons.

That’s not to say teams aren’t pressing anymore or that they’re not doing it as effectively, but is likely a result of opponents being more willing/inclined to kick it long from the back, which would also explain the rise in long balls.

Man City made the most high turnovers last season (9.4 per game) but have only made the seventh most this term (6.4 per game), while Liverpool have gone from the seventh most (8.1 per game) to only two teams making fewer in 2025-26 (4.4 per game). Again, though, that is likely due to opponents not giving them a chance to win the ball high and playing more long balls out from the back.

It’s also notable that, across the league, the percentage of shot-ending high turnovers has dipped too, going from 17% in 2023-24, to 16.4% last season, to 14.9% now; so not only are there fewer high turnovers, but those we’re seeing are leading to shots less often too. It’s clearly less of a weapon than it was in the last two seasons at this early stage.

There were two goals from fast breaks in the opening game of the season between Liverpool and Bournemouth. In fact, Antoine Semenyo’s equaliser at Anfield was one of the most direct pieces of play you’re likely to see, running from deep inside his own half to score. Would that set the tone for the new campaign?

Not especially. If anything, it was a continuation of last season, which saw the highest total of fast breaks on record in the Premier League (since 2006-07) with 2.04 per game.

This season, that’s down to 1.56, though that’s still more than all but three Premier League campaigns. So, while it shows a reduction from 2024-25, it’s still a feature of the modern league. It could increase as the season develops, teams with new signings get more used to one another and tactics evolve further.

Put it in the Mixer

It hasn’t exactly been a season dominated by set-pieces, but they have certainly become a bigger feature than we’ve been used to in recent years.

Of the 124 goals in 2025-26, 31 of them have come from set-pieces (excluding penalties). That means exactly 25% have been from corners, free-kicks or throw-ins.

Over the last Premier League 10 seasons, the highest percentage of goals coming from non-penalty set-pieces was 23.9% in 2016-17. It was 20.6% in 2024-25 and 19.8% in 2023-24. Again, it is quite possibly something that will come down to a similar percentage the more games are played in 2025-26, but as things stand, we are seeing a greater proportion of goals coming from set-plays. Mock your nearest set-piece coach at your peril.

Speaking of corner kicks, another slight change you may expect when teams are playing more directly is a reduction in short corners.

Of the 482 corners taken in the Premier League this season, only 65 have been taken short (13.5%). That is a significant reduction from last season’s 18%. In fact, it was steady around that figure for three seasons (17.7% in 2023-24 and 17.8% in 2022-23), with the last time it was anywhere near as low as this being in 2021-22, when just 14% of corners were short.

It seems to be working, as we’re seeing on average 0.44 goals per game from corners this season, compared to 0.35 last term, though it was 0.45 the season before, so perhaps it’s simply our old pal, variance.

At the other end of the pitch, as we recently touched upon, there have been more goal-kicks sent long this season. Premier League fans have become very familiar with the sight of goalkeepers doing everything they can to pass sideways to a centre-back from a goal-kick, but perhaps that too is a trend on the way out.

As recently as 2017-18, the number of goal-kicks that ended in the attacking half was over 75%, but that reduced all the way down to just over 40% last season.

In 2025-26, for the first time in 10 years, the percentage has gone up, currently at 48.4% of goal-kicks ending in the opposition’s half.

We should mention that it comes down to 44.4% if you discount Burnley. Martin Dúbravka’s 61 goal-kicks taken as long balls into the opposition’s half are more than twice as many as any other team.

We know you’ve all been waiting for it, and here it is. We’re now going to talk about long throws (holds for applause). We’ll get our big towel and dry off some data before launching it at you.

Last season saw an average of 1.52 long throws sent into the opposition’s box per game (a throw that travels at least 20 metres and ends in the opposition’s box), and that has more than doubled in 2025-26 with an average of 3.44 across the first 50 games. Indeed, that’s more than double the rate of any other season in the previous 10 years, with 1.67 per game in 2018-19 the highest rate before this campaign.

West Ham are the only team in the Premier League not to have attempted a long throw into the box yet this season, while Brentford lead the way with 23.

There have been four goals from long throws this season, an average of one every 12.5 games. That’s quite a way up on last season, which saw a goal from a long throw once every 27 games on average. That too was a huge increase on the season prior (one in 76 games).

Long throw-ins are also producing more than twice as much xG this season (0.11 xG per game) as any other campaign on record.

So, for the time being, you can bet we’ll be seeing more of them. We all look forward to a similar scenario to November 2008 when Hull City goalkeeper Boaz Myhill decided to kick the ball out for a corner when under pressure rather than a throw-in at Stoke City, where Rory Delap and his seemingly bionic arms caused havoc from long throws.

His aura. The fear. t.co/G4kLJX18yi pic.twitter.com/nuOyD1We65

Again, it is far too early in the campaign to be making sweeping statements or drawing conclusions, but we’ll see how things develop and likely revisit much of this later in the campaign.

The continuously evolving beast that is the Premier League is always full of surprises, like Man City and Nottingham Forest almost going full ‘Freaky Friday’.

What next? Burnley being involved in 5-5 draws? Liverpool scoring winners in the first minute? VAR being universally acclaimed and fully understood by all?

Fine, maybe not, but we’re looking forward to the rest of 2025-26 all the same.

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More Long Balls, Fewer High Turnovers, and Set-Piece Reliance: Are Premier League Teams Going More Direct? Opta Analyst.

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