Manchester United and rivals City are scoring freely this season... but rest of the Premier League are struggling with lowest goals-per-game ratio ever!
- Manchester United and Manchester City have scored 16 league goals each
- However, the rest of the top flight have struggled to regularly find the net
- As it stands, this is the lowest scoring Premier League campaign in history
Manchester City and Manchester United are leading the way in more ways than one this term, with the pair already three points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Both sides are on 13 points after five games, and both have fired in 16 goals in the process, at a rate of more than three a game.
Much like the table in general, United and City's rivals are struggling to keep up.
Romelu Lukaku celebrates in front of the away supporters after scoring for Manchester United
Sergio Aguero bagged a hat-trick this weekend as Manchester City put Watford to the sword
Indeed, apart from Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool who have scored nine goals in their opening five fixtures, no side have netted more than half the goals scored by either of the top two.
The upshot is a top-flight season which, as things stand, is the lowest scoring in Premier League history.
With just 122 goals scored across the 50 matches played so far, fans have seen an average of 2.44 goals per game.
The lowest ever ratio recorded for a single campaign was in 2006-07, when just 931 goals were scored across the 380 fixtures, a rate of 2.45 per game.
It is a far cry from the 2011-12 campaign when 1,066 goals were scored at a rate of 2.81 per game.
This weekend saw defences come out on top in a number of games, as Chelsea and Arsenal drew 0-0, as did West Brom and West Ham - while Nick Pope and Burnley frustrated Liverpool in a 1-1 stalemate despite the Anfield side having 35 shots on goal.
It has been a common conception that England's top flight is becoming more defensive in it's approach - a view echoed by United boss Jose Mourinho this weekend.
Chelsea's defence came out on top at Stamford Bridge during a 0-0 draw with rivals Arsenal
Leicester City defender Harry Maguire rises above Huddersfield's Laurent Depoitre
After watching his side strike three times late in the second half to seal a 4-0 win over Everton he suggested that tactics were playing a part in driving down the number of goals in every game.
'I think the Premier League is becoming defensive... many teams try to play with five at the back plus two or three in the middle,' he told manutd.com.
'Two teams try to match each other and play the same system and it's 0-0 or 1-0.'
Newcastle's Ciaran Clark slides in to halt the progress of Joe Allen at St James' Park
A combination of Nick Pope and the Anfield crossbar keep out Dominic Solanke's effort
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