Zimpapers Logo

The 2014/15 Barclays Premier League season produced 975 goals across 380 matches. Here we breakdown the numbers that separated the sharp shooters from the shot shy.

Manchester City lost their grip on the English Premier League title, finishing second behind Chelsea, but Manuel Pellegrini’s team were the division’s top scorers once more with 83 goals — 10 more than the next best effort from the newly crowned champions.

As a result, City dominated a succession of categories including penalties. Their seven strikes from the spot was a league-high figure, although Sunderland’s four penalties represented the greatest percentage of overall goals — 12.9 percent of 31.

The only team to score fewer times than the Black Cats were relegated Burnley, who mustered just 28. Their 11 right-footed goals and 24 from inside the penalty area were also the most meagre returns in the league, although the Clarets did score a solitary free-kick in the form of Ross Wallace’s last-minute equaliser at Leicester City in October — one more dead-ball strike than any of Stoke City, Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion, Hull City or Leicester themselves could manage.

The greatest number of left-footed (31) and right-footed goals (46), along with strikes from both inside (68) and outside (15) the box all came from Man City, evidently boosted by having Golden Boot winner Sergio Aguero in their ranks. Their three free-kicks, one from James Milner and two by Aleksandar Kolarov, were only bettered by Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace who converted four apiece.

West Brom scored the lowest amount and proportion of left-footed goals, with three making up 7.9 percent of their 38 strikes in total, but Albion’s 16 headed goals marked a BPL-best of 42.1 percent in that category. West Ham United were the only team to score one fifth of their goals from outside the penalty area, nine of their 44, while Southampton were keen to craft opportunities from closer to the target.

Ronald Koeman’s side scored 50 of their 54 from within 18 yards to bring up a league-high percentage of 92.6 percent, although their three headed goals was the lowest number in the division.

The overall goals total went down from the 1,052 scored during 2013/14, the first time the BPL dropped below the 1,000-goal mark since the 2008/09 season. This was perhaps the result of more precise defensive work, with 63 goals from the penalty spot the lowest since 61 back in 1996/97.

Own goals were also down 16 to 33 from last season, the lowest total since players put the ball in their own net 30 times in 2005/06. Including Southampton’s minimal contribution, headed goals were up 20 from last season to 180, while right-footed goals, the most common manner of scoring in BPL history, broke through the 12,000 mark overall. A combined 503 right-footed goals over 2014/15 means the collective BPL total stands at 12,319. — Supersport.com

The season by numbers: How the goals went in

Team Goals Penalties Left foot Right foot Head Outside box Inside box Free kicks

Man City 83 7 31 46 5 15 68 3

Chelsea 73 4 17 45 10 7 66 1

Arsenal 71 6 19 40 10 9 62 3

Man Utd 62 3 23 25 12 7 55 2

Spurs 58 3 13 33 8 11 47 4

Southampton 54 2 16 29 3 4 50 0

Liverpool 52 5 9 33 5 8 44 1

Everton 48 4 12 24 10 8 40 1

Stoke 48 3 12 21 14 7 41 0

C Palace 47 5 12 24 10 6 41 4

Leicester 46 3 15 22 7 8 38 0

Swansea 46 2 7 29 5 8 38 2

West Ham 44 1 11 17 15 9 35 1

QPR 42 3 7 22 10 8 34 1

Newcastle 40 1 13 20 7 6 34 0

West Brom 38 4 3 18 16 3 35 0

Hull 33 1 8 14 10 3 30 0

Sunderland 31 4 11 11 8 6 25 2

Aston Villa 31 1 5 19 7 3 28 1

Burnley 28 1 8 11 8 4 24 1

Total 975 63 252 503 180 140 835 27