Why more Premier League goals are being scored from the bench than ever before

Justin Kluivert scored his 133rd goal as a substitute in the 2023/4 Premier League season. Photo: Getty Images/David Horton

There are eight to 10 games left for each Premier League team, so whether we have even reached the fabled business end of the season is debatable. However, the record has been broken with almost a quarter of the campaign's games remaining to be played.

With a goal scored by Justin Kluivert for Bournemouth against Crystal Palace,More goals have been scored by substitutes this season than in any other since the inception of the Premier League in 1992. Kluivert's goal brings the total number of goals scored by substitutes in the 2023/24 season to 133, surpassing the previous record of 132 set by the latter. year.

This is not one of those statistics that poses an unsolvable mystery for two main reasons. First is the introduction of five substitutions allowed per team, a rule change introduced last season that was welcomed by the well-staffed coaches and their nine-row benches. The second is the expansion of the traditional 90-minute length of a football match to an average of 100, thanks in large part to the exciting and necessary addition of lengthy VAR checks to a sport that seemed to cope well without them.

The beneficiary is the humble «super sub», a descriptor usually applied to players who have scored one particularly memorable goal after coming off the bench, usually for Manchester United. Think of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the 1999 Champions League final, Michael Owen in the 2009 Manchester derby, or Federico Macheda in the only match you ever remember Federico Macheda playing in.

As expected, only Solskjaer appears on the Premier League's all-time goalscoring list, with his 17 goals off the bench putting him in fourth place alongside Nwankwo Kanu and Daniel Sturridge. Javier Hernandez, the artist formerly known as Chicharito, is third with 19 goals, Olivier Giroud is second with 21 goals, and Jermain Defoe leads the way with a goal tally off the bench of 24, which is unlikely to be scored anytime soon.< /p>

Of the still active contenders, Marcus Rashford seems the best candidate for the top rankings, having scored 13 goals as a substitute. It's time for him to abandon his ideas and start playing so poorly that he loses his place in the United starting line-up.

This season's top scorers are Harvey Barnes (Newcastle), Joao Pedro (Brighton) and Scott McTominay (Manchester United), with four goals each. Leon Bailey (Aston Villa) and Brennan Johnson (Tottenham) lead the way in terms of goals and assists each, scoring twice and providing four assists.

‌That number of assists equals an all-time record of four in a season, so Bailey and Johnson have a chance to put an end to the all-important title race. the most useful goal replacement in league history. And now it's all together: «Most assists in a season off the bench/you'll never sing that.»

One man who has earned a spot on the Mount Rushmore super sub is former Reading striker Adam Le Fondre, who set the all-time top scorer record for a season as a substitute in the 2012/13 season, scored eight goals for his side. A comforting memory for Reading fans during their current woes. It's a pity that they were eliminated.