Alan Duffy: Getting To The Point

AS we head into another pivotal weekend of Premier League action, the value and importance of every goal is increasing exponentially. Every strike is a potentially vital one, firing a team closer to a title or a European spot or condemning them to a place in the Championship next season.

The value of a goal is incontrovertible, however, it is fair to say that, to paraphrase the Smiths, some goals are bigger than others.

So far this season, a certain lanky Norwegian has set many a goal record on fire, however, don’t worry, this isn’t going to be yet another gushing tribute to Erling Haaland and his superhuman heroics – we’ve had enough of them already. However, it would be remiss of me not to give the Norwegian goal-inator a tip of the hat on this occasion.

In terms of the value of his whopping tally of 32 goals in the Premier League this season, they have won Manchester City 22 points, a joint-high total, level with Harry Kane, who has scored nine fewer than Haaland despite also earning his side 22 points.

PFA Player of the Year

PL 22-23	Team	Goals	Points Won
Erling Haaland	Manchester City	32	22
Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	23	22
Marcus Rashford	Manchester United	15	15
Ivan Toney	Brentford	18	13
Alexander Isak	Newcastle United	8	10
Aleksandar Mitrovic	Fulham	11	10
Philip Billing	Bournemouth	7	9
Daniel Podence	Wolverhampton Wanderers	6	8
Rodrigo	Leeds United	11	8
Miguel Almirón	Newcastle United	11	8
Wilfried Zaha	Crystal Palace	6	8

So how do we calculate all this? Well, it’s based on how many points a team would have accrued had a certain player not scored in that game at all i.e. a hat-trick in a 6-1 win gains no points, whereas one in a 1-1 gets one, two in a 2-1 gets three, two in a 2-0 gets two etc. Not too complicated, really!

Of players to net five or more goals in the English top-flight this season, only 11 have seen their goals worth a point or more on average, and what a motley crew it is. Former Chelsea and Liverpool forward, Dominic Solanke, and Manchester United’s peevish playmaker, Bruno Fernandes, lead the way with each of their respective five league goals worth a precious 1.4 points.

Of the players in double figures in the Premier League this season, it is the Red Devils’ revitalised attacker, Marcus Rashford, who has seen his 15 goals produce the most points on average (15 points in total, at an average of one point per goal).

PL 22-23	Team	Goals	Points Won	Pts per Goal
Dominic Solanke	Bournemouth	5	7	1.4
Bruno Fernandes	Manchester United	5	7	1.4
Daniel Podence	Wolverhampton Wanderers	6	8	1.33
Wilfried Zaha	Crystal Palace	6	8	1.33
Philip Billing	Bournemouth	7	9	1.29
Alexander Isak	Newcastle United	8	10	1.25
Ché Adams	Southampton	5	6	1.2
Pascal Groß	Brighton & Hove Albion	6	7	1.17
Rodrigo Bentancur	Tottenham Hotspur	5	5	1
Eberechi Eze	Crystal Palace	7	7	1
Marcus Rashford	Manchester United	15	15	1

*min 5 goals

On the other hand, a number of players have seen their respectable tallies earn their sides a big fat zero points, none more so than Leicester’s James Maddison. The highly-coveted midfielder has seen his nine goals (his second-best haul in a PL season) earn the floundering Foxes no points at all while his teammates, Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka, also feature highly in this dubious ranking. That’s what you get for scoring and not winning, I guess!

PL 22-23	Team	Goals	Points Won
James Maddison	Leicester City	9	0
Cody Gakpo	Liverpool	5	0
Jack Grealish	Manchester City	5	0
Kelechi Iheanacho	Leicester City	4	0
Anthony Martial	Manchester United	4	0
Joelinton	Newcastle United	4	0
Patson Daka	Leicester City	4	0
Kieffer Moore	Bournemouth	4	0

Indeed, England schemer, Maddison, is now just two goals off equalling the record for most worthless goals in a Premier League season, a record new Leicester boss, Dean Smith, won’t want broken by his star man. Tore Andre Flo, the second lanky Norwegian to get a mention here, holds the record, via his 11 goals for Chelsea in 1997-98, which actually made him the Blues’ joint-top-scorer in the league that season (level with Gianluca Vialli).

PL Season	Player	Team	Goals	Points Won
1997/1998	Tore Andre Flo	Chelsea	11	0
2022/2023	James Maddison	Leicester City	9	0
2004/2005	Paul Scholes	Manchester United	9	0
2020/2021	Riyad Mahrez	Manchester City	9	0
2000/2001	Robbie Fowler	Liverpool	8	0
2011/2012	Theo Walcott	Arsenal	8	0
2013/2014	Oscar	Chelsea	8	0
2019/2020	Ayoze Pérez	Leicester City	8	0
2021/2022	Saïd Benrahma	West Ham United	8	0

As for Haaland and Kane, they both look set to finish the season with sufficient points won via their goals to claim their place among the top earners in Premier League history. Indeed, Haaland has already won his side more points than other City player in a season in the history of the competition.

PL Season	Player	Team	Goals	Points Won
1993/1994	Shearer, Alan	Blackburn Rovers	31	32
2012/2013	van Persie, Robin	Manchester United	26	27
2002/2003	Beattie, James	Southampton	23	27
1994/1995	Shearer, Alan	Blackburn Rovers	34	26
1995/1996	Shearer, Alan	Blackburn Rovers	31	25
1999/2000	Phillips, Kevin	Sunderland	30	24
2011/2012	van Persie, Robin	Arsenal	30	24
2012/2013	Bale, Gareth	Tottenham Hotspur	21	24
2014/2015	Kane, Harry	Tottenham Hotspur	21	24

Let’s not ignore James Beattie’s elevated status here, which certainly deserves a mention. The former England hitman netted an impressive 23 of Southampton’s 43 goals in the 2002-03 Premier League campaign, a haul bettered only by the far more acclaimed superstars, Ruud van Nistelrooij and Thierry Henry. Still, Beattie’s tally earned Southampton a whopping 27 points, contributing to an eighth-placed finish in the table, at the time their best top-flight finish in 13 seasons.

Overall, it’s no surprise to see Alan Shearer at the top of the listings for most points won for teams in the Premier League, with the Southampton, Blackburn and Newcastle legend’s all-time-high 260 goals equating to a mighty 182 points.

However, Harry Kane is closing in fast on his England striking predecessor, with the Three Lions all-time top-scorer’s domestic goal-getting racking up 130 points (all for Spurs) in the Premier League so far. Mr. Haaland has a fair way to go to catchup with that!

All-Time PL	Goals	Points Won
Alan Shearer	260	182
Wayne Rooney	208	133
Harry Kane	206	130
Les Ferdinand	149	124
Andrew Cole	187	116
Thierry Henry	175	114
Jermain Defoe	162	111
Frank Lampard	177	107
Robin van Persie	144	104
Robbie Fowler	163	103
Teddy Sheringham	146	103

Finally, spare a thought, by the way, for ex-Everton and Nottingham Forest midfielder, Scott Gemmill, who, despite netting eight goals in his Premier League career, saw none of those strikes earn his side a point, the most of anyone in the competition’s history. At least James Maddison, whatever he does for the rest of this season, has picked up points with his goals in campaigns past and won’t find himself on this rather undesirable list.

All-Time PL	Goals	Points Won
Scot Gemmill	8	0
Nacho Monreal	7	0
Petter Rudi	7	0
Jô	6	0
Eduardo da Silva	6	0
Patrick Kluivert	6	0

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