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One of the biggest stories of the Premier League season so far concerns the decline of scoring in open play and how clubs are netting more from set-pieces instead.

Looking at how goals have been scored to the initial 11 matches last season, we note a drop of 39 goals in open play and an increase of 26 from set-plays and spot-kicks, giving us 13 less in total.

Examining overall statistics, shot attempts sides are producing show a staggering 370 fewer in open-play than this time previously.

And despite the significant rise in dead-ball scores, there have actually been only two additional attempts produced from them excluding spot-kicks, indicating the proficiency teams have been at discovering methods to net from dead-ball chances.

Goal Averages Show the Tale

Over 300 goals notched in 110 games up to now averages out at nearly 2.75 goals per fixture, if this persists for the whole season might be the lowest for five years, from five seasons ago (2.69).

However, only 196 goals scored in open play averages out 1.78 per game and is heading to be the least for since 2009-10, from 16 years ago (1.76 average).

The 2009-10 season also marks the only Premier League campaign to witness scoring more often from non-penalty set-pieces than this campaign's frequency of 0.77 per game (0.79 per game).

Which Sides Are Most Responsible?

When it comes to goals scored from open play, Wolves have experienced by far the biggest decrease, registering only four in 11 matches, a reduction of 10 than at this stage last season.

Excluding Wolves, England's top division's fall in open play goals is largely a London phenomenon, with half of the London's seven clubs scoring a minimum of five fewer goals from open play than last season.

In fairness, this is mainly because their scoring many scores at the beginning of the previous campaign instead of them having difficulty to score in open-play this campaign.

Meanwhile Manchester City have experienced the largest rise, with almost every one of their 23 scores so far arriving in open-play.

Set-Play Proficiency

Looking at newly promoted sides with the teams that went down that they superseded. Play-off champions the Black Cats have netted three more goals in open-play than Southampton did in their opening 11 matches leading to relegation last season.

In terms of goals scored from set-pieces (not counting penalties), the Gunners and Chelsea have experienced the largest rise, with both sides making up for the five fewer scores that they've scored in open-play with identical figures from set-pieces.

Man United have scored twice as many goals from set-plays as they achieved in the 11 games the previous campaign before the manager assumed control, while the Black Cats once more prove better at scoring than the similar-colored team they superseded.

Manchester City seem unaware of the trend about increasing scoring from set-pieces, because they've netted a reduction of three than last season, as have Forest, although this could be because of the tactical shift they've attempted to adopt.

General Tendencies

Six teams – the Gunners, Chelsea, the Cottagers, the Magpies, Spurs and the Hammers – are this term's top trend-setters by recording fewer scores from open play and additional from set-pieces, while Manchester City stand as the only side to go against the grain to date by achieving the contrary.

It will be fascinating to see if sides persist to depend greatly on set-plays as the campaign progresses or if they rediscover their general attacking flair and commence scoring increased totals in open play too.