Premier League’s Top Goal Scorers | Shots Per Goal Stats Analysis

Our first look at shots per goal came back in December where Theo Walcott and Javier Hernandez were the most efficient players requiring the least amount of shots to score a goal whilst Adam Le Fondre was at bottom of that list.

Have things changed? All of the stats are below and we’ve used only players that have scored 6 or more goals in the Premier League. Also note we’ve mentioned goal scorers – not strikers – which means it could be any player that has scored six goals or more and the comparison is not restricted to just strikers.

Chelsea boys Juan Mata and Frank Lampard are at the top of the list here – Lampard, impressively, averaging a goal every 2.73 shots and Mata an equally impressive 3.2. Lukas Podolski is third whilst hot-shot Javier Hernandez is fourth. Surprising Adam Le Fondre is now in fifth place. The reason this is surprising because he was last on the list in the article we did in December averaging 6 shots per goal. He’s scored a lot of goals since then whilst starting on the substitutes bench so this will explain his increase in efficiency – he’s had fewer shots but his accuracy is better and hence he’s scoring more goals.

All of the players who have scored 6 goals or more are in the table below. Have a play and we’re going to look at these stats without penalty stats that led to a goal next.

The table below can be sorted by clicking on the columns (Chrome users – requires latest update).

Shots Per Goal(SPG) without penalty stats that led to a goal (Top 10)

Without Penalties included Lampard drops to fourth – still an excellent return from a player Chelsea did not want to keep which is quite staggering with the brilliant performances that he has produced this season. Mata tops the lot whilst Podolski and Chicarito are also there. Steven Fletcher shows his goal scoring skills at the top of the list whilst Walcott has dropped since December as he was at the top at that time in the season.

This is a screenshot – not a table (full sortable table available on next page)

Improvement from last season

The most interesting part of this analysis is the improvement from the players that were in the Top Goal Scorers list last season. The difference is shown below. A negative difference obviously means that the player is attempting fewer shots to score. Gareth Bale is the most improved in this aspect as he is now attempting 4.74 fewer shots this season to score a goal. Luis Suarez is next in line attempting 3.6 fewer shots per goal this season and third is Walcott on -3.34. These three were the biggest movers.

The chart below shows the difference in shots and it’s not looking good for Nikica Jelavic who is attempting 5.06 more shots per goal this season whilst Berbatov and Defoe make up the top 3. Special mention to Sergio Aguero’s drop in fourth place. Full sortable table available on next page (stats are only for top scorers with 6 or more goals).

Click to Enlarge

To conclude whilst Mata, Lampard and Podolski impress this season requiring the least amount of shots to score – Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez and Theo Walcott have improved the most from last season and now attempt fewer shots per goal. Bale and Suarez’s shots attempted numbers are still quite high this season despite the improvement but an improvement nonetheless.

The next two pages show full data tables for the stats used for Shots Per Goal without Penalty Goal Stats and the Improvement stats.

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Shots per Goal Without Penalty Goal Stats | Shots Per Goal Improvement from Last Season