BALL IN PLAY: ARE WE SEEING LESS FOOTBALL IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE THIS SEASON?
Set-Pieces and Delays Eating Into Actual Playing Time With set-pieces and throw-ins increasing this season, are we seeing less of the ball in play in the Premier League? We dig into the data to find out. The start of every football match brings anticipation – wondering what could occur over the next 90+ minutes. Will the star players perform well? Will the referee have a good game? And will the football gods shine down just the right amount of fortune? A slightly more pertinent question to ask this season, though, is how much football will we actually see? THE DECLINING TREND A couple of seasons ago, analysis revealed that Premier League fans weren't seeing quite as much open-play football in games as previous years. This prompted key changes such as more stoppage time being added. The result? Average ball-in-play time per game rose from 54 minutes and 49 seconds in 2022-23 to 58 minutes and 11 seconds in 2023-24. It's still early in the 2025-26 season, but the pendulu...