Opta Analyst's David Segar looks at where teams are shooting from in the Premier League in 2024/25 and why there have been the fewest efforts from outside the box since 2003/04.
Whether you’re a fan, a neutral, or a student in fresher’s week with more loan money than self-control, who doesn’t love a high volume of shots?
Such is the desire from those in the stands at a football match to see their team have an effort on goal, it has become a regular occurrence to hear cries of "shoot!" even when a centre-back with zero career goals has the ball about 40 yards from the opposition’s net.
It’s enough to make a panicked manager fall out with his own fans when said player endangers the windows of cars parked outside the stadium more than the goal.
If you don’t shoot, though, you don’t score (own goals aside, of course). Shooting is ultimately what the game is geared towards, and so we wanted to see how the elite in England have been going about it this season.
We have therefore pulled some of the best shooting numbers from the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Who is partial to a tap-in and who, to quote Alan Partridge, has "a foot like a traction engine"?
Unless stipulated, these numbers include penalties as they are generally awarded because a team have illegally prevented their opponent from having an opportunity to shoot inside the box, with the only exceptions being when handball is given as a result of a shot from outside the penalty area.
Equally, data on shots from outside the box includes direct free-kicks.
Get it in the box!
It stands to reason that a team is likelier to score the closer they get to the goal, so shots from inside the penalty area will usually be more fruitful than those from outside.
In 2024/25, 14.7 per cent of shots taken inside the box have found the net, while just 4.2 per cent of those from outside the box have gone in.
It is therefore unsurprising that teams keep trying to take their shots from inside the box where possible.
It won’t always mean they’re closer to the goal; for example, a central shot from just outside the area will be closer to goal than a shot from just inside the corner of the box, but generally speaking, it pays to be inside those lines.
The 2024/25 season is currently featuring the fewest shots from outside the box on record (since 2003/04).
There have been just 8.3 shots per match from beyond the penalty area, while we are also seeing the lowest percentage of shots from outside the box (31.7 per cent).
It follows a trend, as there has been a steady decrease in the percentage of shots coming from outside the box in the Premier League since 2005/06, when the highest percentage of 48.2 per cent was recorded.
Last season produced the lowest percentage of goals scored from outside the box on record (11.5 per cent), though it should be noted that the total of 1,246 goals was the most ever scored in a Premier League campaign.
This season is currently on course for the third-lowest proportion (11.7 per cent). The highest came in 2006/07 when more than one in five (20.2 per cent) goals in the Premier League were from outside the area.
Back to this season, it might surprise you that Manchester City – so often geared towards trying to work the ball into the opposition box for their predatory striker Erling Haaland to finish – have actually scored the most goals from outside the box in the Premier League (11), making up 20 per cent of their total.
Neighbours Manchester United also rely on their long-range shooting, and are the team with the highest percentage of their goals coming from outside the box (21.6 per cent; eight from 37).
At the other end of the spectrum, rock-bottom Southampton are yet to score from outside the box in the league this season.
As a bit of a quirk, Brighton & Hove Albion and AFC Bournemouth have strangely equal records.
Both have scored 48 goals this season, with exactly the same split of five goals from outside the box (10.4 per cent) and 43 from inside. They are vastly different when it comes to shots from close range, though.
Brighton have had just eight shots from within five metres of the goal this season, the second fewest behind Wolverhampton Wanderers (six), while Bournemouth have had 35, the second most behind Arsenal (47).
In less surprising news, runaway leaders Liverpool have attempted the most shots in the Premier League this season (492), at least 26 more than any other team (Man City – 466) and 230 more than Leicester City, who have attempted the fewest (262).
Liverpool have also had the most shots on target (183), with the fourth-highest percentage of shots testing the goalkeeper (37.2 per cent).
In what will be far from the only mention of them here, Brentford have been the most accurate with their shooting; 142 of their 338 shots (42 per cent) have been on target.
That accuracy in front of goal probably relates to the fact Liverpool (25.8 per cent) and Brentford (25.7 per cent) take very few shots from outside the box, with those two teams making the lowest percentage of their attempts from further out than the edge of the penalty area.
Average distance
Using Opta data, we can work out the average distance from which each Premier League team have taken their shots this season, and we start by heading back to the Gtech Community Stadium.
Thomas Frank’s Brentford are averaging the shortest distance by almost a full metre, with their shots being just 13.6m from goal on average.
Second is Liverpool (14.4m), just ahead of Arsenal (14.5m) and Newcastle United (14.6m). Tottenham Hotspur (14.72m), Brighton (14.73m) and Aston Villa (14.74m) are then barely separable behind them.
Brentford’s ability to have so many of their shots closer to goal than others could be partly explained by the fact they have taken 101 of their 103 crossed corners this season (98.1 per cent) as inswingers.
They might not have the productivity of others, but when they do connect with a corner, they are usually quite close to goal.
Brentford corners analysis
Some might be surprised to see Arsenal as the third closest, considering the discourse around their lack of striker options this season, though again, corners will be doing some of the work here.
The Gunners have had the second-highest percentage of shots following a corner in the Premier League this season (21.0 per cent).
Only Ipswich Town (21.1 per cent) have a higher percentage, though the shot-distance average for Kieran McKenna’s side is actually the second furthest away in the whole division (15.93m), largely because they have taken so many shots from outside the box (112 of 282).
Ipswich - shots from outside the penalty area
The Tractor Boys have attempted the highest percentage of their shots from outside the box (39.7 per cent), ahead of Wolves (38.8 per cent), Nottingham Forest (36.6 per cent), Man City (36.3 per cent) and Man Utd (36.1 per cent).
Wolves having the second-highest percentage of shots from outside the box is particularly interesting, as they are also the second-best team in the league for the proportion of their shots being on target (39.4 per cent).
In fact, Wolves average the longest distance per shot in the Premier League this season (16.07m).
To emphasise the difficulty they have getting close to goal, Wolves have only had 12 shots from inside the opposition’s six-yard box, the fewest in the Premier League by at least nine (Ipswich – 21).
Wolves - shots inside the six-yard box
As mentioned, Southampton are the only team to have scored 100 per cent of their goals from inside the box this season, while a team who have almost always had to enter the penalty area to score are Leicester.
Only one of the Foxes’ 23 non-penalty goals this season has come from outside the box (4.4 per cent).
Leicester - all shots this season
That brings us back to Liverpool, who actually have the third-lowest percentage of non-penalty goals from outside the box, while just four of their 60 non-penalty goals have come from beyond the area (six per cent).
Their 56 non-penalty goals from inside the area are at least 14 more than any other team.
As well as being the most accurate shooters, Brentford are also the most efficient in terms of converting chances. The Bees have scored from 13.7 per cent of their non-penalty shots (excluding own goals), ahead of Wolves (12.7 per cent), Forest (12.5 per cent), Liverpool (12.3 per cent), Spurs (12.3 per cent) and Arsenal (12.2 per cent).
Also unsurprisingly, Southampton have been the least efficient, scoring from just 7.4 per cent of their non-penalty shots (excluding own goals), ahead of West Ham (7.5 per cent), Crystal Palace (7.9 per cent), Man Utd (8.5 per cent) and Everton (8.7 per cent).
Distant players
People might think Haaland will be the player to average the closest range for shots in the Premier League, and they wouldn’t be far wrong.
The Man City striker has had 98 attempts this season from an average distance of just 10.2m (11.2 yards). That’s closer than the penalty spot (12 yards).
The only players to have attempted at least 20 shots in the Premier League this season and average closer to goal than Haaland are three Arsenal players - Gabriel Magalhaes (8.3m from 22 shots), Gabriel Jesus (9.7m from 20 shots) and Mikel Merino (10.2m from 25 shots) – and Southampton striker Paul Onuachu (9.0m from 25 shots).
As for those who test themselves from further out, Matheus Cunha has been a bright spark for Wolves this season.
The Brazilian has scored the joint-most goals from outside the penalty area in the Premier League (five), level with Man Utd’s Bruno Fernandes.
As an aside, all eight of Fernandes’ Premier League goals this season have either been penalties (three) or from outside the box.
Cunha averages shots from 17.7m (19.4yds) this season, with his 13 goals coming from an average of 15.7m (17.1yds).
Only Forest’s Chris Wood (6.4) has outperformed his non-penalty Expected Goals (xG) by more than Cunha (6.3).
Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze scored his first goal for England against Latvia on Monday, which came from a shot inside the box, and then opened the scoring in Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final at Fulham with a screamer from outside the box.
Of Eze's 71 shots in the Premier League this season, 49 have been from outside the box (69 per cent).
Only six players have attempted more total shots in the competition in 2024/25, but Eze has scored just twice. That may well be because the average distance of his efforts is 17.8m (19.5yds).
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer has attempted the most shots from outside the box (51), all with his left foot. That is only two more than Eze, who has played 514 minutes fewer and has mixed his attempts a bit, with 12 of his 49 attempts from range coming via his weaker left foot.
How could we get this far into an article about shooting in the Premier League and not mention Mohamed Salah? Well, let’s remedy that.
The Liverpool phenomenon has scored 27 league goals this season, all of which have come from inside the box (nine penalties), at least nine more than anyone else.
The player to have scored the next most goals exclusively from inside the box is Brentford’s Yoane Wissa (14). Salah has also taken the most attempts inside the box (96), three more than Haaland (93).
The next most is Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo (74), who has recorded the most shots overall this season (102).
Some players have taken shots from range a bit far, though, if you’ll pardon the pun. Wolves defender Emmanuel Agbadou has only attempted two shots since arriving from Reims in January, but frankly, they were a bit silly, with an average distance of 31.2m, or 34.1 yards.
No, he did not score from either of them.
Leicester’s Abdul Fatawu suffered a season-ending ACL injury in November, but prior to that seemed absolutely determined to score from range. The Ghanaian winger averaged 28.1m (30.7yds) from 13 shots before being sidelined.
Expanding our search to players with more shots to their name, and therefore a bigger sample size, Brighton’s Carlos Baleba averages 21.4m (23.4yds) from 36 shots, with only six of those coming from inside the box.
Notably for Liverpool, their average shot distance - the second-shortest in the Premier League - could drop further if reports that Trent Alexander-Arnold could leave the club prove to be true.
The mercurial right-back’s 36 shots at goal in the league this season have been from an average distance of 20.8m (22.7yds).
Most powerful shot
Who has hit the hardest shot in the Premier League this season? Well, we bet you’ll never guess, and he probably wouldn’t either.
Lesser-spotted Spurs left-back Sergio Reguilon has recorded just one shot in the Premier League in 2024/25 in his 121 minutes on the pitch, and it also happened to be the most powerful attempt of anyone in the competition this season.
His shot in the 2-1 home loss to Newcastle in early January was clocked at a speed of 71.6 mph. However, although it was from inside the six-yard box, it ultimately went out for a throw-in, so it appears there is something in the idea of sacrificing power for accuracy.
We all love to see a goal fly in like a rocket from range, unless it’s against our team, but there’s no getting away from the fact it’s an inefficient route to goal. The only way most shots from long distance are likely to bother the scoreboard is if they smash the ball into it.
Teams are trying to get closer to goal to take their shots, and that isn’t likely to be a changing trend any time soon.
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