When Premier League Goals Are Scored (2025/26 Study)
We analysed every one of the 380 Premier League matches played in 2025/26 and split each scoreline by half. The headline: this was a second-half league. 56.7% of all goals arrived after the break, home advantage stayed firmly intact, and a half-time lead was overturned for a win in fewer than one game in ten.
Published 8 June 2026 · By the Planete Football Data Desk · Free to cite with a link to this page.
Five citable findings
- 1 56.7% of all Premier League goals in 2025/26 were scored after half-time — 593 of 1045.
- 2 Home sides claimed 56.9% of all available points (590 v 446) and won 42.6% of matches.
- 3 Once a team led at the break it went on to win 72.9% of the time; only 9.7% of half-time leads were overturned for a win.
- 4 The league averaged 2.75 goals per game, but the second half (1.56) out-scored the first (1.19) by 31%.
- 5 Matchday 35 was the most explosive round of the season with 37 goals; Matchday 22 the quietest with 16.
A second-half league
Premier League goals are not spread evenly across a match. Across the 2025/26 season, sides scored 452 goals before the interval and 593 after it — a 56.7% to 43.3% split in favour of the second half. Put another way, the average game produced 1.19 first-half goals and 1.56 second-half goals, with the second period out-scoring the first by 31%.
| Period | Goals | Per game | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| First half (0–45+) | 452 | 1.19 | 43.3% |
| Second half (46–90+) | 593 | 1.56 | 56.7% |
| All goals | 1045 | 2.75 | 100% |
The pattern held at club level too. Of the 20 sides, 16 scored more goals after the break than before it. Sunderland were the most second-half-reliant team in the division, registering 69% of their goals after the interval, while champions Arsenal were the league's most ruthless closers, scoring 41 second-half goals — 24 more than they conceded after the break.
Goals scored, by half (every club)
Clubs ordered by final league position. first half · second half
Home advantage is alive and well
For all the talk of empty atmospheres and the levelling effect of money, the home edge in 2025/26 was emphatic. Home teams won 162 of 380 matches (42.6%), drew 104 (27.4%) and lost only 114 (30%). Translated into points, hosts banked 590 to visitors' 446 — a 56.9% share of everything on offer. They also out-scored away sides 580 goals to 465.
Home points vs away points, by club
home · away
Fulham had the widest home-vs-away swing of any club, taking 35 of their points at Craven Cottage and just 17 on the road. Four sides — Everton, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham — bucked the trend and were actually more productive away from home.
A half-time lead is (nearly) money in the bank
Comebacks make great television, but they were rare. Across the 236 matches in which one team led at half-time, that side went on to win 172 times — 72.9% of the time. The trailing team turned the game around for a full three points in just 23 games (9.7%), and clawed back a draw in another 41 (17.4%).
| Outcome after a half-time lead | Matches | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Leader held on to win | 172 | 72.9% |
| Trailing team rescued a draw | 41 | 17.4% |
| Trailing team came back to win | 23 | 9.7% |
Methodology & data source
- Source: football-data.org public API (v4), competition
PL, season2025. - Coverage: all 380 fixtures of the Premier League 2025/26 season (15 August 2025 – 24 May 2026), matchdays 1–38.
- Pulled: 8 June 2026.
- How second-half goals are derived: each match's second-half score is the full-time score minus the half-time score. League-wide and per-club totals are simple sums; percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
- What this is not: these are real, recorded scorelines only. We do not use expected goals (xG) or any modelled metric. Goal-timing is resolved to the half, not the minute, because per-minute goal data is not part of the source feed.
- Licence: figures and charts on this page are released under CC BY 4.0 — free to reuse with attribution to Planete Football and a link to this page.
Frequently asked questions
What share of Premier League goals were scored in the second half in 2025/26?
56.7% of goals (593 of 1045) were scored after half-time across the 2025/26 Premier League season, compared with 43.3% before the break.
How strong was home advantage in the Premier League in 2025/26?
Home teams won 162 of 380 matches (42.6%), drew 104 (27.4%) and lost 114 (30%). They took 56.9% of all points awarded over the season.
How often was a half-time lead overturned?
Of 236 matches with a half-time lead, the leading side won 72.9% of the time. The trailing team came back to win in just 23 games (9.7%) and rescued a draw in 41 (17.4%).
How is this data calculated?
Every figure is computed directly from the full-time and half-time scores of all 380 Premier League 2025/26 fixtures, sourced from the football-data.org API. Second-half goals are derived as full-time minus half-time. No expected-goals (xG) or modelled figures are used.
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