Burnley and Man City top rankings for active game time | Premier League on course for record-breaking goal ratio

Average playing time has risen to nearly 60 minutes this season; games involving Burnley and Man City top rankings for active game time; Bournemouth and Luton register league-low averages; Premier League games averaging at more than three goals per game

Data and Analysis @AdamDatasmith

Thursday 28 September 2023 12:02, UK

Referees are clamping down on time-wasting this season by adding bumper periods of additional time — but how is it affecting teams and the record books?

The average playing time in a Premier League game has jumped more than four minutes this season, from around 54 minutes in 2022/23 to 59 minutes this term, according to data providers Second Spectrum.

That average is the highest since records began — two-and-a-half minutes clear of the previous high of 56 minutes and 43 seconds recorded in 2013/14, and is bearing down on the widely-touted target of 60 minutes' effective game time.

The total duration of a game also now averages over the 100-minute threshold for the first time.

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Manchester City could clock an extra three games' worth of playing time this season as a result of referees clamping down on time-wasting.

That could help City score even more goals, with their current average of 2.67 per game close to their record-breaking ratio of 2.79 — when they netted 106 goals in 2017/18.

Indeed, the Premier League is on course to average more than three goals per game in a campaign for the first time in history.

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Interestingly, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was one of the leading sceptics when the new guidelines on added time