Up to this point, Premier League teams have played 8 to 10 matches. The races are still not over, but there is an aspect that has set a new record when nearly 1/4 of the season's matches have not yet taken place.
Accordingly, with Justin Kluivert scoring for Bournemouth in the match against Crystal Palace in the early morning of January 3 (Vietnam time), the 2023-2024 season has had more goals scored by substitutes than any other season since the Premier League was established in 1992.
Kluivert's goals have taken the total number of goals scored by substitutes to 133 for the 2023-2024 season, surpassing the previous record of 132 set last season.
There are two reasons given to explain this problem. One is that like last season, coaches now have 5 substitutions per match and 9 players on the reserve list.
Two is that the extra time of the matches is returned in practice after cases of having to check VAR or some incidents that take a long time. Therefore, there have been many matches that have lasted more than 100 minutes, many goals scored in long extra time.
Previously, football had the concept of "super reserve" to only have players come on as substitutes and score special, memorable goals.
When talking here, people immediately think of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the Champions League final in 1999, or Michael Owen in the Manchester derby in 2009, or Federico Macheda in the only match that people can remember him for.
The Premier League has seen other super substitutes that Solskjaer has only finished fourth in the All-time leading scorer list for coming off the bench - 17 goals, equal to Nwankwo Kanu and Daniel Sturridge.
Rafael Hernandez, also known as Chicharito, is third with 19 goals, Olivier Giroud is second with 21 goals and Jermain Defoe is leading with a total of 24 goals.
This index does not seem to be defeated any time soon.
Among the candidates still playing, Marcus Rashford seems to be the best choice to enter the top with 13 goals when coming on as a substitute. Should he start playing badly to lose his position in the official position and seek a goal from the bench! ?
This season, the reserve players with the most goals are Harvey Barnes (Newcastle), Joao Pedro (Brighton) and Scott McTominay (Man Utd), each scoring 4 goals.
Leon Bailey ( Aston Villa) and Brennan Johnson (Tottenham) are also leading in both goals and assists, scoring twice and providing four assists.
For clubs, 2 out of 3 teams in the current Top 3 also have Top 3 goals scored by players coming on as substitutes. Liverpool have 11 goals and 11 assists, Arsenal have 11 goals and 7 assists, behind Newcastle (13 goals and 7 assists).
Therefore, if Liverpool or Arsenal win, their reserve players will receive certain honor.
In contrast, Manchester City's substitutes have only scored 4 goals and assisted 6 goals. For Man United, it is 6 goals, 4 assists.
