Against Arsenal on Thursday night, Liverpool failed to land a shot on target in a Premier League match for the first time since March 2010 when they faced Wigan Athletic. That was 600 matches ago. But how many games has it been since every Premier League team failed to land a shot on target ?
Matchday 21 of the Premier League 2025-26 season ended with a damp and drab 0-0 draw between Arsenal and Liverpool. Other than the unedifying flashpoint between Gabriel Martinelli and Conor Bradley, it was a game of very little note. The two sides combined for just 0.89 expected goals, the third-lowest total in any Premier League match this season. Meaningful goalmouth was scarce.
There was so little for the goalkeepers to do that Arsenal’s David Raya didn’t have to make a single save. In fact, this game was the first time since March 2010 that Liverpool failed to land a shot on target in a Premier League match – 600 games ago. They did come pretty close to having one when Bradley hit Raya’s crossbar in the first half, but there are no prizes here for striking the woodwork.
Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool xG shot map
Dating back to a 1-0 away defeat to Wigan Athletic on 8 March 2010, Liverpool had recorded at least one shot on target in each of their previous 599 league matches. That had been the longest active streak among all current Premier League sides.
But that run is no more. Instead, it is now Manchester City who have the longest ongoing streak, having managed a shot on target in every game under Pep Guardiola and well before his reign, too. They have had a shot on target in each of their last 521 league games, a run stretching back to a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in April 2012 – a match in which current Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta scored the winning goal.
Manchester United sit next on the list, going 418 consecutive Premier League matches without failing to register a shot on target. Their most recent blank dates back to January 2015.
From there, it’s a big drop off to Arsenal (170 games), who last did not have a shot on target in a humiliating 5-0 defeat away at City in the third game of the 2021-22 season.
At the other end of the scale, Liverpool now sit at zero, while West Ham’s current streak stands at just one. The Hammers failed to record a shot on target only two games ago, against bottom-of-the-table Wolves. A Wolves side who, let’s remember, now hold the record for the longest winless start to a season in Premier League history.
Such is Arsenal’s defensive solidity that they’re responsible for four of the 19 occasions in which other current Premier League sides have failed to register a shot on target. Three of those shutouts have come in the last two seasons. They’ll hope to ride their defensive prowess as they inch towards their first Premier League in over 20 years.
Premier League Stats Opta
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