You’ll probably know which players have scored the most goals, made the most passes or tallied the most assists this season in the Premier League, but how about those leading in some of the more unusual metrics across 2025-26?
The Premier League has reached the third international break of the 2025-26 season, and with 11 games played, it feels like an ideal time to check in on some of the statistical leaders.
You’ll be fully aware that Erling Haaland has scored more goals than any other player and David Raya is great at keeping them out at the other end of the pitch, but this isn’t an article looking at the leading players in categories you’ll already know about. This is our chance to look at some of the quirkier metrics from Opta.
Who covers the pitch but sees the penalty area as their kryptonite? Which defender loves those one-v-one battles? Who prefers to shoot at goal without taking a touch to settle themselves?
We answer these questions and more as we dive into the quirkier statistical leaders of the 2025-26 Premier League season so far.
Most Shots From Outside the Box Without Scoring
Bruno Fernandes (12)
Bruno Fernandes hasn’t had much luck from shooting outside the box this season. The Portuguese has attempted 12 shots from range without success, coming closest in the Matchday 10 draw at Nottingham Forest, with his low shot striking the foot of the post.
Bruno Fernandes Shots Outside the Box
The fact that only Kevin De Bruyne (15) has scored more goals from outside the box in the Premier League than Fernandes (14) since the Manchester United captain’s debut in February 2020 suggests his luck will eventually change.
Maybe it’s time for him to come off free-kicks, though; he’s only scored three of his 60 shot attempts from free-kicks in the Premier League (5%), including two unsuccessful efforts in 2025-26.
Long Throws Into Opposition’s Box
Michael Kayode (54)
Long throws are back in fashion. That makes Michael Kayode even more important than usual, with the Brentford defender chucking more of them into the opposition’s box than any other player in the Premier League this season.
Kayode has launched 54 long throws into the opposition’s box in 2025-26, eight more than second-placed Nordi Mukiele and 25 more than Chris Richards in third. More importantly, six of his long throws into the penalty area have led to a shot – four more than any other player – and two have led to goals for the Bees.
Highest xG Total Without Scoring
Igor Jesus (1.86)
Igor Jesus hasn’t had a problem scoring for Nottingham Forest in cup competitions this season. The 24-year-old Brazilian forward has scored five goals from 13 shots across the League Cup and Europa League, but the Premier League has been a more difficult proposition for him.
He’s yet to score in 10 league games since joining Forest in the summer from Botafogo, despite also having 13 shots in the top flight. In fact, he is the player to have the highest expected goals figure in the competition this season without scoring (1.86).
Igor Jesus xG 2025-26 Premier League
One positive for him is that he isn’t the player with the most shots without scoring in the Premier League in 2025-26. That is Bournemouth’s David Brooks (16 shots, 0 goals).
Most Shot Involvements Without a Goal or Assist
Florian Wirtz (28)
It’s been a tricky start to life in England for Florian Wirtz. The Germany international signed for Liverpool in the summer from Bayer Leverkusen in a deal that could be worth £116 million, but he’s yet to show the form that made the Reds so keen to secure his signature.
Some of the criticism of Wirtz has been warranted, but a lot seems harsh on a young player acclimatising to a new country. The fact of the matter stands, however, Wirtz hasn’t yet delivered in the Premier League.
Across his 11 league appearances for Liverpool, none of his 16 chances created have assisted a goal, which is hardly on him, but he’s also recorded 12 shots without success.
Also 22 years old in his first season at Arsenal, Thierry Henry struggled at the start of his Premier League career, with just one goal and no assists in his first 12 appearances. But then things started to click, and we know the rest…
Expected Assists From Open Play
Jack Grealish (2.47)
Jack Grealish tops the open-play assist charts with four in 2025-26, but sometimes assists can be misleading. In order to assess the true creative quality of a player’s passes, expected assists (xA) offers a deeper understanding of how likely a pass is to become an assist.
xA is measured on a scale between zero and one, where zero represents a pass that will never result in an assist, and one represents a pass that the receiver would be expected to score from every single time. In 2025-26, Grealish’s Premier League passes in open play have totalled 2.47 xA, higher than any other player in the division.
Interestingly for Everton fans, another of their players ranks second in this metric: Iliman Ndiaye (2.40), just ahead of Man City’s Jérémy Doku (2.14) and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (1.94).
First-Time Shots From Open Play
Erling Haaland (26)
Erling Haaland has been in electric form this season, plundering 14 goals in the opening 11 matchdays to top the Premier League scoring charts. But we all know how good he is at scoring goals, and this season’s feats have hardly come as a surprise. What might be more surprising is how often he takes first-time shots in open play.
Of his 44 open-play shots this season, 26 have come without any prior touch (59.1%) and eight of his 14 goals have come with a first-time finish. That’s more than any other player in the league, but only just…
Jean-Philippe Mateta has had 30 shots in open play, and 25 of those have been first-time attempts (83.3%).
Most Touches Without One Being in the Opposition’s Box
Carlos Baleba (371)
Eleven different players have scored a Premier League goal for Brighton & Hove Albion this season, but maybe don’t expect midfielder Carlos Baleba to join that group any time soon. That’s because, despite having 371 touches of the ball across 11 appearances in the competition this season, none of them have come inside the opposition’s penalty area.
That’s the most touches by an outfielder without any coming in the opposition’s box this season, 79 more than Axel Tuanzebe (292). Across his Premier League career, Baleba’s only had 19 of his 3,230 touches in the opposition’s box (0.006%) and none have come in his last 14 league appearances for the Seagulls.
Carlos Baleba Touch Zones
Most Fouls Without Being Given a Card
Ryan Sessegnon (20)
Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon could be considered the most fortunate player to not have entered the referee’s notebook this season as he’s committed 20 fouls without receiving a single card, four more than Pape Matar Sarr (16) and five more than teammate Raúl Jiménez (15).
Going back to last season, none of Sessegnon’s last 25 fouls have seen him carded, last receiving a yellow card against Aston Villa on 3 May from Rob Jones.
At the other end of the scale, three players have committed fewer than 10 fouls but still been given four yellow cards this season: Álex Jiménez (5 fouls), Tim Iroegbunam (6) and James Garner (8).
Most Carries Ending With a Shot Involvement
Cody Gakpo (20)
Cody Gakpo has caused opposition defences problems with his direct running this season, and the Dutch forward leads the Premier League rankings for the most shot involvements following a ball carry (20).
Cody Gakpo Carries leading to shots
Twelve of those involvements have come with him taking the shot after taking the ball at least five metres, with the other eight seeing him create a chance for a teammate after running with the ball at his feet.
Gakpo finds himself behind Man Utd’s Matheus Cunha (15) when looking at shots following ball carries alone, while the leading players for chances created following ball carries are Callum Hudson-Odoi and Jérémy Doku (11).
Most Carries Ending in Opposition’s Box
Jérémy Doku (72)
As highlighted above, Jérémy Doku has shown how dangerous he is when running with the ball at his feet, leading the rankings for chances created following a ball carry (11).
There aren’t many players, if any, who can wriggle their way through tight spaces to create chances for teammates as well as the Belgian winger, and his ball carrying ability has seen him burst into the opposition’s penalty area more often than anyone else.
Doku leads the Premier League rankings for ball carries ending in the opposition’s box (72), with his tally 19 more than the next highest players, Jack Grealish and Cody Gakpo (53).
Doku Ball Carries into the Penalty Area
Most Possession Regains Leading to Shots
Idrissa Gueye (10)
Everton’s Idrissa Gueye might not rank inside the Premier League’s top 10 for possession won, tackles or interceptions in 2025-26, but when he does win the ball back from opponents, his side make his efforts worthwhile.
Gueye has started 10 separate shot-ending possession sequences for Everton by winning the ball back from opponents, more than any other player in the league this season. Add in instances where he’s recovered a loose ball and his tally is still the most in the league (17).
Best One-v-One Defender Against Dribblers
Maxence Lacroix (87.0%)
Looking at the total number of “true tackles” attempted by players, which is a sum of successful tackles (where possession is regained or when the ball goes out of play and is safe), challenges lost (where a player attempts a tackle and doesn’t connect with the ball) and fouls when attempting a tackle, we’re able to assess the best defenders at coming up against dribblers.
Of players to have faced at least 20 opponent dribbles, Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix has the highest success rate (20/23 – 87%), just ahead of central defensive partner Marc Guéhi (22/27 – 81.5%).
Of defenders, Kieran Trippier has the worst success rate in stopping opposition dribblers. The Newcastle full-back has won just 32.3% of his one-v-one battles, committing a foul 10 times and seeing his opponent dribble past him on another 11 occasions.
Most Chances Created From Open-Play Crosses
Hugo Bueno (9)
Considering Wolverhampton Wanderers have fired in 20 more successful open-play crosses than any other team in the Premier League this season, it’ll come as no shock to see one of their players as the leading creator in such scenarios.
Back following a loan spell at Eredivisie side Feyenoord last season, Hugo Bueno has been attacking the left flank for Wolves in 2025-26. Despite a poor start to the season for the team, he’s been one bright spark.
Bueno leads the Premier League rankings for open-play crosses attempted (52) and successful (21), with a league-high nine of those creating chances for teammates, while he also tops the rankings for expected assists from such scenarios (0.87).
Most Kilometres Run
Granit Xhaka (124.06km)
Sunderland have started the season brilliantly, and arguably no player has stood out more for them than the experienced Granit Xhaka. And curiously, although no spring chicken at 33 years old, he’s covered more ground than any other player in the Premier League this season, running 124.06km.
That total is 1.62km more than Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, while Xhaka’s teammate Noah Sadiki (122.33km) ranks third in the Premier League after 11 matchdays.
High Pressures Applied in the Final Third
Igor Thiago (270)
Igor Thiago endured a frustrating first season at Brentford. Hindered by injury, the forward played just 168 minutes across eight appearances in the Premier League. Now fit, the Brazilian has become an integral part of Keith Andrews’ side and only Erling Haaland (14) has scored more goals than he has (8) across the opening 11 matchdays of 2025-26.
He works incredibly hard off the ball, too. He leads the Premier League rankings for high pressures applied across the whole pitch (609), but more importantly for his role in the Bees’ side, he also leads the charts when looking specifically at high pressures applied in the final third of the pitch (270).
Igor Thiago High Intensity Pressures
Shots With First Contact Following Corners
Dan Ballard (6)
Sunderland centre-back Dan Ballard has scored twice this season in the Premier League, but somewhat surprisingly, neither goal came following a corner.
That’s surprising because no player in the Premier League this term has had more shots as the first contact following a corner than Ballard (6). All six of his attempts have been headed, but unlike his goal from open play in the MD1 win over West Ham, none have found the net.
Ballard is the only player to have attempted more shots as a first contact from a corner than Erling Haaland (5), who leads the league ranking for the most attacking first contacts overall (11), ahead of Leeds’ Joe Rodon (10).
Minutes Played as a Substitute
Emiliano Buendía (200)
Emiliano Buendía has been a handy option for Unai Emery off the bench for Aston Villa this season in the Premier League.
The Argentine has played more minutes as a substitute than any other player in the top flight in 2025-26 (200), and his impact has made a difference to Villa. No player has been involved in more goals as a sub than he has (3 – 2 goals, 1 assist), while he also leads the rankings for shot involvements as a sub (11 – 6 shots, 5 chances created) alongside Omari Hutchinson and Estêvão.
In fact, he’s been involved in more goals as a sub (3 in 200 minutes) than he has as a starter (2 in 229 minutes) this season for Villa.
Premier League Stats Opta
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