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EPL Photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton Welcome to the latest edition of The Alternative Premier League Table, where each week, The Athletic analyses the entire division through a specific lens. After looking at the pressing intensity of each team in last week’s edition, we will be looking at own goals this time. As usual, the article that follows is long but detailed, so please settle down and enjoy it all — or use the index at the bottom of the page to jump to a specific club. Advertisement Matchday 16 saw four own goals go in across the Premier League (including two — Wolves helping Arsenal out — in the same game), the most in a single round of fixtures in the division since the start of the 2018-19 season. Overall, there have been 20 of them across the 320 matches so far in the current campaign, so we are on pace to eclipse the 33 of 2024-25 and at least get close to the 49 the 20 top-flight clubs managed in the one before that. Own goals are an occupational hazard for all footballers, but some players — and some teams — are more susceptible to accidentally putting the ball in their net than others. This week’s Alternative Table looks at own goals — for and against — for each of the division’s current clubs since the start of last season. So the numbers for Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley have been taken from the 2024-25 Championship. Key takeaways include: Not scoring an own goal in 54 matches may not sound like an impressive feat, particularly for a team who dominate possession in most of their games. But given Arsenal have not been strangers to defending deep in the past few years and have competed with Manchester City for the title in most of those seasons, these margins matter. At the other end of the pitch, their set-piece prowess and attacking fluency shone in 2023-24, with teams scoring five own goals against them. The four own goals since have come largely from corners, too. Bukayo Saka’s devilish deliveries resulted in Wolves duo Sam Johnstone (from a corner) and Yerson Mosquera (from open play) finding the back of their own net on Saturday. In 2024-25, Tottenham striker Dominic Solanke’s own goal from a Declan Rice corner was the equaliser in a north London derby Arsenal went on to win 2-1. Before that, Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi did the same from the second phase of a Saka corner, putting Arsenal ahead in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time, en route to a 4-2 victory. Advertisement In contrast to Arsenal, Everton, who spend large stretches of their games without the ball, not conceding an own goal in nearly a season and a half is admirable. A big part of this is the anticipation of James Tarkowski, often their deepest defender. Tarkowski has prevented a league-high 4. 9 expected goals (x G) with blocks in this stretch, while making four clearances off the line (second in the league behind Ezri Konsa’s five for Aston Villa). Everton forced three own goals last season and one so far in this one, all of which came in wins. Tarkowski was involved in the last of the three from 2024-25, with his header across goal that saw Archie Gray find his own net from team-mate Radu Dragusin’s hacked clearance in a 3-2 defeat of Tottenham in January. The other two own goals came in a 4-0 win against Wolves the previous month, with an apparently cursed Craig Dawson twice scoring past his own ’keeper in 23 second-half minutes, first from a corner and then from a free kick. An own goal from Archie Gray gives Everton a 3-0 half-time lead. Everything that could go wrong is going wrong for Tottenham. .. #EFC | #THFC | #EVETOT ? @Sky Sports PL pic. twitter. com/Mwvcisg Fz9 — The Athletic | Football (@The Athletic FC) January 19, 2025 Historically, the picture is less rosy. Everton have, in fact, scored the most own goals (61) in the Premier League era, 16 of which have been winners for their opponents (joint highest with Sunderland and Fulham). Former Everton players Richard Dunne (10) and Phil Jagielka (seven) and their veteran right-back Seamus Coleman (six) have the three highest totals of own goals in the competition's 33-year history, the latter two alongside seven others. The only own goal in their favour this season was scored by Nottingham Forest’s Nikola Milenkovic, who guided a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall cross past goalkeeper Matz Sels in a 3-0 Everton win a couple of weeks ago. Advertisement Only Tottenham (61) have made more errors leading to a shot than Chelsea’s 58 since the start of last season, with 17 of those ending in goals. It is impressive then that the scrambling their players have had to do after giving the ball away in dangerous areas has not manifested into hacked or confused clearances into their own net. Simultaneously, only Bournemouth (64) have benefited more from opponent errors resulting in a shot than Chelsea’s 59 (14 ending in goals). Chelsea forced three own goals in 2024-25, their most in a season since the start of 2018-19. Each was the result of low crosses into the box. Cole Palmer’s delivery against West Ham deflected off Aaron Wan-Bissaka almost immediately and looped over Alphonse Areola to prove the match-winner in February. Palmer was at it again against Liverpool in May, with his pass causing problems before Virgil van Dijk’s clearance was turned in by centre-back partner Jarell Quansah. In between those two, Ipswich’s Axel Tuanzebe turned in a Noni Madueke centre from the right in a 2-2 draw. Bournemouth prefer to do a lot of their defending away from the penalty area, which is one explanation for their lack of own goals despite a chaotic brand of football that can place players in seemingly unfamiliar positions. They have scored only one own goal since Andoni Iraola’s arrival as head coach in summer 2023 — Milos Kerkez nodding into his own net from the latter phase of a free kick against Brighton that September. Since the start of last season, their rate of 9. 1 interceptions per 90 minutes leads all Premier League teams. Nearly half (4. 5 per 90) have come in the middle third — also a division-high figure — indicating how good they are at snuffing out danger early. 13 - Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez is the 13th different teenager to score a Premier League own goal and first since Bukayo Saka in November 2020 for Arsenal vs Aston Villa. Triskaidekaphobia. pic. twitter. com/Ux QBHl Tzqr — Opta Joe (@Opta Joe) September 24, 2023 Bournemouth have forced only one own goal in this time, with Kerkez involved in that too. His cross after underlapping Antoine Semenyo was headed into the net by Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt in March this year, but Iraola’s side lost the match 2-1. Their defeat to Arsenal in Saturday's top-vs-bottom fixture came with its positives but was also Wolves' third Premier League game with two own goals, and the second time it has happened to them against Arsenal. Advertisement They have now scored seven own goals since the start of 2024-25, the most in the league. Johnstone's against Arsenal was deeply unfortunate, hitting the post and then rebounding off him into the net, while Mosquera mistimed his leap in stoppage time. The centre-back scored an own goal against Fulham last month too, failing to sort his feet out in time to deal with a Ryan Sessegnon cross. Ladislav Krejci and Matt Doherty were their other players to score own goals, both comical in their own way. Krejci guided Sunderland forward Chemsdine Talbi’s pass perfectly into the bottom corner past Johnstone, from distance, in a 2-0 defeat in October. Doherty’s came against Ipswich last December. A sequence of chaotic Wolves defending saw him get off the ground to make a goal-saving block before Toti Gomes’ attempt to do the same from a Conor Chaplin shot went in off the Republic of Ireland international anyway. Sunderland scored nine own goals in their three Championship seasons before securing promotion in May, including five in 2024-25. Luke O’Nien and goalkeeper Anthony Patterson — who have combined for just 93 league minutes this season in the top flight — were responsible for two each. Patterson’s second, a result of unconvincingly flapping at a cross at his near post, notably resulted in what could have been a damaging 1-0 defeat to Hull City in February. O’Nien’s were both diving headers into his own net after being caught in a horrible position to deal with crosses against Portsmouth and Sheffield United, though Sunderland still won those games. That Portsmouth match saw Zak Swanson score an own goal at the other end too, deflecting a team-mate’s clearance into his own net. This season, Sunderland’s only own goal was scored by Nordi Mukiele against Liverpool two weeks back from an honest attempt to block Florian Wirtz’s shot. Advertisement At the other end, their win in the Wear-Tyne derby over the weekend came thanks to a near-perfect header by Woltemade past his own goalkeeper. The other was Krejci’s finish covered in the Wolves section above, meaning Sunderland have probably been the recipients of the two most eye-catching own goals of the season. Krejci’s effort is the only one scored from outside the penalty box in the past four seasons. Sunderland also received a similar helping hand three times in 2024-25 — two of which were game-state changers late on. Enzo Le Fee’s excellent cross led to Middlesbrough’s Ryan Giles placing the ball into his own net for an 87th-minute winner in February. The other, listed as Junior Firpo's own goal, was one of the worst mistakes of the season by Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier in the seventh minute of stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 home draw in the October. Four of Leeds’ five own goals also came in the 2024-25 Championship, with Meslier’s the headline shocker. He was also responsible for another against Sheffield United in February, fumbling a Tyrese Campbell header into his net. Max Wober headed a corner past Meslier from the near post against Middlesbrough last December, and Sam Byram was unfortunate to see a shot hit a post then cannon in off his legs against Plymouth in May. Leeds’ only own goal this season was an extremely awkward Gabriel Gudmundsson header in the dying seconds against Fulham, resulting in a 1-0 September defeat. They are yet to be gifted an own goal in 2025-26 but forced four in last season's Championship. Daniel James and Manor Solomon’s dangerous deliveries from out wide, which served as Leeds’ primary attacking outlet for much of that promotion campaign, were responsible for two each. Eleven matches into this season, own goals were Fulham’s top scorer — with three. Advertisement Apart from Wolves' Mosquera and Gudmundsson of Leeds (both mentioned above), Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock also hit the back of his own net for the final goal of September's 3-1 west London derby win. Centre-back partner Nathan Collins mistimed his jump to deal with another Sessegnon cross, resulting in the ball looping over goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher off an unaware Pinnock. Fulham’s quietly solid record from corners makes own goals a real possibility from those situations too. Since the start of last season, 24 per cent of their corners have ended in shots, the best mark in the league among the 17 non-promoted clubs. Their only own goal against in 2024-25 came when an Andreas Pereira corner was diverted in by Brighton’s Matt O’Riley last December. At the other end, Fulham scored two own goals last season, and have already matched that total in this one. Sander Berge’s attempt to block Jeremy Doku’s shot in the wild 5-4 defeat to Manchester City at the start of this month ended with the ball beating ’keeper Bernd Leno. The other was scored in August by Rodrigo Muniz against Manchester United, who unwittingly headed past Leno from a Bryan Mbeumo corner aimed towards Leny Yoro. City are yet to concede an own goal this season, but did so twice in 2024-25. Against Brighton in March, the ball rolled into their net almost in slow motion after a Jack Hinshelwood shot from a corner hit Abdukodir Khusanov. In the August, Josko Gvardiol could not keep up with Jarrod Bowen of West Ham, who beat him on the outside and crossed, with a sliding Ruben Dias knocking it past Stefan Ortega. At the other end, the three own goals they have forced in this season's 16 matches are their highest number since getting four in the whole of 2018-19 (and more than the one in all of 2024-25). Two of these came in the same game and from the same player: Burnley’s Maxime Esteve in a 5-1 win at the Etihad Stadium in September. 6 - Maxime Estève is only the sixth player ever to score two own goals in the same Premier League game, and first since Craig Dawson against Everton for Wolves in December 2024. Oops. pic. twitter. com/DT78t8Np LY — Opta Joe (@Opta Joe) September 27, 2025 First, the centre-back was slow to react to a Martin Dubravka save, and ended up stabbing the ball home under pressure from Phil Foden. He then slashed at a cross from Matheus Nunes that missed City forward Oscar Bobb but went in off his own shin. Advertisement United lead the division historically in own goals with 78 — 28 of which have been winners (also a Premier League record). In August, they became the first team in Premier League history to have their first two goals of a season be own goals. Fulham’s Muniz, as described above, was followed a week later by Burnley captain Josh Cullen, with Casemiro’s header coming off the crossbar and going in off an unwitting Cullen as he stood right in front of the net. They have not forced another own goal in the 13 league games since and are also yet to put through their own net this season. Marginally improved set-piece defending has contributed to that, after they allowed two own goals in 2024-25 from set plays. The first came against Southampton in January when Lisandro Martinez, hoping to clear the ball, only flicked it on at the near post, resulting in Manuel Ugarte unknowingly scoring past Andre Onana. The other was from the second phase of a Michael Kayode throw-in during May's 4-3 loss to Brentford; Mikkel Damsgaard’s hooked effort going in off Luke Shaw. That Shaw mistake was the only own goal Brentford have been on the right side of since the start of the 2024-25 season. At the other end, they are level with Leeds for own goals conceded with five. The most recent of those was by Collins against Crystal Palace early last month, mistiming his jump and nodding Jefferson Lerma’s throw past Kelleher. The earliest in this spell came against Palace too, in August 2024, with Pinnock stretching to nick a header across goal which beat Mark Flekken. Between those two, Vitaly Janelt has twice found the back of his own net. The first was against Tottenham in February, with the midfielder, tasked with protecting the near post, losing the flight of the ball to guide a header in. The second was against Bournemouth from a Kerkez cross (see above). Advertisement Woltemade’s own goal at the weekend was Newcastle’s fourth since the start of 2024-25 and second this season, after Sven Botman slid an Arron Wan-Bissaka cross into his own net in a 3-1 loss to West Ham in November. Dan Burn scored both Newcastle's own goals in 2024-25. The first came against Tottenham in the September, when he slammed an attempted clearance into the roof of his own net, as seen below, after Nick Pope’s weak parry-out to Brennan Johnson. The second, against Aston Villa in April, saw him unknowingly divert a Jacob Ramsey cross past Pope after Youri Tielemans got ahead of him to just nick the ball. Eddie Howe’s side have forced two own goals, both against Palace and both scored by Marc Guehi. The first was this cleverly worked opener from a quick free kick, with Burn racing ahead of Guehi to flick the ball in off the Palace centre-back. The second saw Guehi lunge to stop a Harvey Barnes cross towards an open Alexander Isak in the penalty box and instead beat Dean Henderson at the near post. Apart from his twin errors against Newcastle, Palace’s only other own goal since the start of 2024-25 was also scored by Guehi, making him the individual leader in our sample size. That came against Brighton last December when Henderson flapped at a corner to his near post, with the ball falling to Maxence Lacroix, whose attempted clearance hit Guehi in the face and rolled into the net. Fortunately, Palace have also been the beneficiaries from three own goals in this time, cancelling out their captain’s dubious record. Brentford’s centre-back pairing of Collins and Pinnock have contributed one each in two different matches (see above). The other was scored by Fulham’s Joachim Andersen in February. The former Palace defender leapt to defend a Will Hughes corner directed towards Lacroix but headed the ball past Leno instead. Brighton have already matched their own-goal tally of two from the whole of last season before the halfway point in this one. They have also scored the second-most own goals by one club in a single campaign since the start of 2018-19, with six in 2022-23, behind only Sheffield United's seven a year later. Advertisement Apart from O’Riley against Fulham (see their section of this article above), captain Lewis Dunk scored an own goal in February against Nottingham Forest, guiding Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross past Bart Verbruggen. Goalkeeper Verbruggen is one of the more unfortunate own-goal culprits in 2025-26: in the 1-1 draw with Wolves in October, he brilliantly tipped Marshall Munetsi’s volley onto the crossbar, only to have the ball drop down, hit the back of his head and roll in. Jan Paul van Hecke scored their other one, which was Tottenham’s 82nd-minute equaliser in a 2-2 September draw. The centre-back could not track the trajectory of an excellent Mohammed Kudus cross, which Joao Palhinha ducked under, resulting in the ball bouncing in off Van Hecke’s thigh. At the other end, Brighton also rank joint second in most own goals benefited from in a single season since 2018-19, with five in 2023-24. Only 2021-22 Tottenham and 2023-24 Liverpool (six each) have more. Khusanov and Guehi (see the City and Palace sections) scored own goals against them in 2024-25, though Brighton failed to win either match, drawing 2-2 with Manchester City and losing 3-1 to Palace. Aston Villa’s Pau Torres put the ball into his own net while attempting to block a Hinshelwood cross earlier this month. The own goal put Brighton 2-0 up, but they ended up being beaten 4-3. Villa are second behind Everton (61) for the most own goals conceded in Premier League history, with 58. Emiliano Martinez, meanwhile, leads all goalkeepers in own goals with three. Torres’ one against Brighton (see above) is the only own goal they have conceded since the start of 2024-25, an improvement after letting in eight combined across 2022-23 and 2023-24. They also had six of them go their way during that two-year stretch, with their haul dropping to three in the 54 matches across last season and this one. Advertisement One of those three came last week against West Ham when Ollie Watkins headed a John Mc Ginn cross in off the head of Konstantinos Mavropanos. Newcastle’s Burn scored the one before that in April (see their section). Fulham’s Issa Diop was responsible for the first in October last year. Lucas Digne’s dangerous cross from the left arrived in between Diop and Leno, with the goalkeeper’s weak parry going in off the centre-back. While Villa under Unai Emery have typically preferred to play through the heart of teams with quick passes, wide combinations have become an important theme. They have scored 20 times within five seconds of a successful cross since the start of 2024-25, putting them fourth behind Arsenal (30), Tottenham (26) and Newcastle (25). Spurs are yet to score an own goal in 2025-26 after doing so four times last season. April alone saw Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie put the ball into their own net in 4-2 and 5-1 away defeats to Wolves and Liverpool respectively. Spence’s came from Guglielmo Vicario clawing at a header that could have been caught, with the ball deflecting in off his team-mate. Udogie, meanwhile, suffered a lapse in concentration to allow Mohamed Salah to nudge ahead of him and was forced to hastily recover before accidentally tapping home. At the other end, Tottenham have forced one own goal this season — Van Hecke’s late equaliser in that 2-2 draw with Brighton (see their section above) — after their opponents scored three in 2024-25. Brentford’s Janelt and Burn of Newcastle were responsible for one each, with West Ham goalkeeper Areola scoring the other, fumbling a regulation save that saw the ball hit team-mate Jean-Clair Todibo but also hit him, before rolling into the net in slow motion. West Ham were on the right side of three own goals in 2024-25 — their most in a season since the start of 2018-19. Advertisement Bowen forced the first from City’s Dias in the August (see above) and repeated the trick with a shot from a narrow angle against Leicester in February, with Jannik Vestergaard deflecting it past current West Ham backup ’keeper Mads Hermansen. Wan-Bissaka, who created their opponents' only own goal of this season so far, scored by Botman of Newcastle last month, also forced their final one of 2024-25 in April's 2-1 loss away to Liverpool. The 28-year-old, playing at left-back rather than his usual role on the right of defence, hooked a cross into the box, and a lack of communication between Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson led to the latter stabbing the ball past Alisson. At the other end, West Ham put through their own net three times last season, too. Between Areola’s error against Spurs and Wan-Bissaka’s against Chelsea (see above), Vladimir Coufal found the back of his net against City. Attempting to block a cross from Savinho on the left, Coufal’s outstretched foot deflected the ball past Areola at his near post. West Ham went on to lose all three matches. Mavropanos scored their only own goal of this season in the 3-2 defeat to Villa. Fortunately for them, Liverpool’s two own goals from 2024-25 came in April (Robertson vs West Ham) and May (Quansah vs Chelsea), with the title already in the bag. Arne Slot’s side are yet to score one this season, though they have imploded in other ways. Historically, club legend Jamie Carragher is second all-time for Premier League own goals with seven (behind Dunne's 10), and famously scored as many times for Spurs in the top flight as he did for Liverpool (three). Jurgen Klopp’s final two seasons as manager (2022-23 and 2023-24) saw Liverpool force 10 own goals in a variety of ways: underlapping runs and crosses, set pieces and their signature quick tempo raises within moves. Wout Faes’ comical pair of own goals in a 2-1 win at Leicester in December 2022 — becoming, at the time, just the fourth player to double-up in a game in Premier League history — helped too. Wout Faes was feeling particularly charitable two years ago today, scoring two own goals as Leicester City lost 2-1 to Liverpool at Anfield. .. ? @LFC pic. twitter. com/YYbecu18Ru — The Athletic | Football (@The Athletic FC) December 30, 2024 They forced just one last season, from Tottenham left-back Udogie in a 5-1 win, while the only time they've been presented with one this season was via Sunderland’s Mukiele. Advertisement Forest’s excellent 2024-25, built on a resolute defence, saw them avoid scoring even a single own goal, despite often being forced to defend their box after taking leads. Since the start of last season, their Brazilian centre-back Murillo ranks third in x G blocked with 3. 9 behind Tarkowski and Brentford's Collins, and joint second with the Everton defender for clearances off the line with four. Milenkovic has 2. 5 and two respectively in those same metrics but has scored their only own goal this season — against Everton in the second minute of the 3-0 loss earlier this month. At the other end of the pitch, Forest have yet to be gifted an own goal in 2025-26 and only had one last season — by Brighton’s Dunk to open the scoring in a 7-0 home win at the City Ground. In 92 Championship matches across the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons, Burnley scored a solitary own goal, but they already have three in 16 Premier League matches over the past five months. Vincent Kompany’s approach in their previous top-flight foray often led to errors at the back, resulting in defensive scrambles, rushed clearances and inevitably, a few own goals. Current head coach Scott Parker removed those elements, opting for a conservative, deep-lying style. But when teams have broken through the first two lines of pressure, the defence has had to make hurried decisions. Both of Esteve’s own goals against City in September were a result of the opposition breaking past the defensive block at pace to isolate defenders out wide. Cullen’s own goal against United had to do with deeper defending too, albeit from a set piece. Burnley’s worst season in terms of own goals in the past eight years came in 2018-19, when they scored four but stayed up, finishing 15th under Sean Dyche. Maybe there’s some solace there? Anantaajith Raghuraman (or Ananth) is a tactics and data writer covering football. He covered Indian football for Sportskeeda and analysed teams from numerous European leagues outside of the top five for Total Football Analysis prior to joining The Athletic. He is currently based in London. Follow Anantaajith on Twitter @anantaajith