How new added time rules transformed the Premier League

Premier League supporters have enjoyed extra value for money this season.

Not only is the top-flight currently averaging 3.09 goals per game - a figure which means we are on course to smash the division’s previous high – but the ball has also been in play for a significantly longer amount of time too.

Thanks to new directives on timekeeping introduced last summer, leading to a rise in added time at the end of each half, the ball has been in play for an extra three minutes and 45 seconds per match compared to 2022/2023.

In isolation that may not seem hugely consequential, but over the course of a 380-match campaign that will lead to an extra 1,425 minutes of football where the ball is alive.

Using the Premier League’s latest ‘in play’ average of 58 minutes, 37 seconds that translates to the equivalent of an extra 24 full matches!

It will be a major surprise if last term’s goal record of 1,084 is not eclipsed by a wide margin.

More late drama

With injury time lengthening it is no surprise more goals have been scored in the dying embers of matches too, but the jump we have seen is still staggeringly high.

On the clock we have experienced a 38.4% increase in the average number of seconds played beyond 90 minutes, climbing from 507 to 702 since last season.

Yet the goals tally has witnessed an incredible 77.3% rise , jumping from 0.22 per game to 0.39.

Are players and managers displaying greater attacking ambition late on in matches, knowing they have extra time to grab themselves a goal?

Or is the additional mental and physical fatigue creating more mistakes at the back?

A combination of the two is likely to have caused this shift, and it has helped to produce some stirring climaxes to Premier League matches.

The leaders, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, have been the most productive attacking force in added time this season, bagging six goals beyond the 90^th minute.

At the other end of the spectrum, Nottingham Forest are the only Premier League team yet to produce a stoppage time strike.  

Despite enjoying a positive campaign under new head coach Ange Postecoglou, it is Tottenham Hotspur who have fared worst defensively in added time.

Contrastingly, North London rivals Arsenal, who have become a far more solid outfit this term under Mikel Arteta, are the only top-flight side yet to leak a goal in this period.

David Moyes, Sean Dyche, Unai Emery, Erik ten Hag and Jurgen Klopp will also be pleased their sides have shipped just one goal so far in injury time.  

There is no major discrepancy between the types of goals scored late on, and during the 90 minutes that preceded it.

Open goals usually represent between and 69% and 73% share of all strikes.

There is a marginal increase in this collection of 90+ minute goals, with 74.5% of injury time goals coming from open play.

Impacts from the bench

Taking advantage of matches that are currently averaging 101 minutes, 42 seconds, substitutes – or ‘finishers’ as many coaches now prefer to label them - have been responsible for scoring 14.8% of top-flight goals.

While the introductions of five subs each at the start of 2022/2023 led to an understandable and immediate rise in goals scored by replacements, the jump from 12.2% last term is certainly noteworthy.

Remarkably we have already witnessed more substitute goals (93) than we did in the entirety of the 2020/2021 season, played behind closed doors (90).

With more options at their disposal, managers and head coaches are also making their first change earlier than ever.

Across the last four seasons there has been a year on year drop from the 61^st minute to the 58^th minute, and with injury time dragging on longer, substitutes do now have extra time to make an impression.

The impact ‘finishers’ are having on the outcome of games also places a stronger emphasis on the need for head coaches to get their decisions right.

With subs registering a goal in almost half of matches this term, it is a strand of in-game management which is affecting results as often as a change in tactics.

While it will always be tough for players to accept being named on the bench, the role they play has never been more crucial.

Managers will be at pains to explain this to disappointed players who do not make their starting XI.

Monitoring the workload

Medical staff and those in the Sports Science departments are also playing an increasingly important role behind the scenes.

While we as football fans largely welcome the ball being in play for longer and are not wholly concerned by the prospect of matches going beyond 100 minutes, it does place a greater physical burden on footballers.

The physical data from this 2023/2024 campaign clearly indicates that players are running much further.

Until this point, an extra 6.8km is being covered by players in each match they play compared to last season.

Over the course of the full season that adds up to an incredible 2,584km of additional running – the equivalent of running from Oxford to Istanbul.

That is 129.2km per team, which equates to around one extra match per season.

This will potentially influence head coaches to rotate even more moving forwards.

Just five outfield players have featured for every minute of their respective clubs’ Premier League campaign so far, and all of them are central defenders.

James Tarkowski (21 matches), William Saliba, Max Kilman and Joachim Andersen (20 matches) and Ethan Pinnock (19 matches).

While it is fantastic to savour the additional drama and goals that longer football matches inevitably supply, player welfare will need to be monitored closely.

We do not want to burn players out or put them at a greater risk of picking up injuries.

Workloads in training may have to be adjusted as managers and coaches develop a greater understanding of how these changes are impacting the game.

Also in this series

Coaching insights part 1: Lionel Djagba
Coaching insights part 2: Ed Brand
Coaching insights part 3: Unai Emery