After the first three games of the 2025-2026 Premier League season, Manchester United is sitting in 9^th place with just 4 points (1-win, 1-draw, 1-loss). While United have 4 goals for in those matches, only 2 have been scored by United, with the other 2 being own goals scored by their opponents.

Despite the small number of goals, Manchester United lead the league so far in shots and shot creating actions. In this article, we take a closer look at why United have been struggling to put the ball in the back of the net so far this season.

What Are Shot-Creating Actions?

Shot creating actions are defined as the two offensive actions leading up to a shot. Examples of these actions could be a pass, a take on or drawing a foul.

Think of it essentially as an assist to a shot. It measures which players were directly involved in the build-up play to allow for a shot to be taken.

In some cases, a single player can be credited for both shot creating actions for a single shot. Furthermore, in some cases there might only be one shot creating action.

United Lead the League in Shot-Creating Actions

After the first 3 Premier League matches, Manchester United leads the league with 106 shot creating actions; that averages to 35.3 per match. For perspective, Bournemouth is sitting second with 81 shot creating actions after the first 3 matches. That’s 25 less than United.

The lowest in the league is Brentford, which has only 40 shot creating actions so far in the Premier League.  Despite this, both Bournemouth and Brentford have scored more goals than United so far (this doesn’t include own goals counted for Manchester United).

When we breakdown United’s 106 shot creating actions to an individual basis, about 57% of them can be attributed to four different players: Fernandes, Diallo, Mbeumo, and Cunha.

These four players are on the list of the top 20 players in the Premier League with the highest number of shot creating actions. United have the highest players per squad in the top 20 amongst all Premier League teams.

There are 6 clubs who don’t have a single player in the top 20, when ranked by number of shot creating actions.

So, despite all these shot creating actions, why have Manchester United scored such few goals so far this season? Next, we’ll take a look at their shots metric to see if that provides further information.

Plenty of Shots, But Poor Accuracy

With United leading the league in shot creating actions, it is not surprise that they also lead the league in shots. After the first three Premier League matches, they have taken 56 shots which average to about 18.6 shots per match.

For reference, the second highest is Bournemouth with 44 shots and 12 fewer than United. Brentford and Palace are the lowest with only 24 shots after the first three matches.

Of United’s 56 shots so far, only 15 have hit the target, which equates to a 26.8% shot accuracy (14 shots were saved and 1 goal was scored from open play; to note – penalty kicks do not count as shots in the data set we are using).

To put that in perspective, the entire Premier League had a 33.6% accuracy last year in the 2024-2025 season. In that same season, Manchester United had a 32.1% accuracy.

Without a doubt, United’s accuracy shot accuracy so far this season is lacking. Below is a breakdown of their shots that didn’t hit the target.

As you can see, 21 missed the goal (37.5%), 16 were blocked (28.6%), and 4 hit the woodwork (7.1%).

Liverpool have scored the most goals so far this 25-26 Premier League season (after 3 matches played), so we took a quick look at their shooting statistics for comparison.

Of Liverpool’s 33 shots, 17 have been on target which is a 52% accuracy. This is further broken down into 8 goals and 9 saves by opponent goal keepers. Of the 16 shots that missed the net, 9 were off target while 7 were blocked.

The average shot distance for Liverpool’s 9 off target shots was 17.3-yards. For United, their average shot distances for the 21 off target shots was 15.3 yards.

Said differently, on average when United are shooting, they’re missing the net from a closer range than Liverpool.

Based on this data, it is clear to see that United’s shot accuracy is impacting their goal conversion rate. While it may be that the league leaders, Liverpool, are over performing currently, United’s shot accuracy in the first three matches has been below average.

Next, we’ll take a quick look at how this corresponds to expected goals (xG).

Expected Goals (xG) vs. Actual Goals

We did an in-depth article on xG last season that you can read here.

Essentially, xG is the probability that a shot will result in a goal. It takes many characteristics into account when determining the probability, such as location of shooter, events leading up to the shot and the body part used to shoot (foot, header, etc.).

An xG of 1.0 is a for sure goal, an xG of 0.1 indicates that there would be 1 expected goal if 10 identical shots were taken. To note, the xG of a penalty is 0.79 (odds are heavily in favour of scoring).

When you sum up all xG’s from each individual shot, you get a total xG or expected goals for a single team or player. You can then compare that to the actual goals scored by that team or player to determine their performance.

After the first 3 matches played in the Premier League, Manchester United have an xG of 6.7. This is the highest in the league, second being Chelsea with 6.4 and Wolves being the lowest with 2.1.

While Manchester United have 4 goals for so far this season, only 2 of them were actually scored by United (the other 2 were classified as own goals, one each against Fulham and Burnley).

So when you subtract xG from actual goals scored, United’s is 2 – 6.7 =  -4.7 (negative 4.7). Meaning, it was expected that United should have scored 6.7 goals, they have only scored 2 goals, so they are 4.7 goals behind expectation.

When looking at the G – xG metric, Manchester United have the worst in the Premier League so far, second is Brighton at -2.1 (negative 2.1). Of the two goals United have scored, the average xG was 0.68, which is considerably high, meaning you would expect them both to be scored.

Again, if we compare United to current league leaders, Liverpool, the results are shocking. Liverpool’s xG in the first three matches of the 25-26 Premier League season was 3.4.

In actuality, they have scored 8 goals which gives them a G – xG metric of +4.6 (i.e. Liverpool have scored 4.6 more goals than expected). To no surprise, that is highest in the league, with the newly promoted Sunderland in second at +2.0 G – xG rating.

Of the 8 goals Liverpool have scored, the average xG of those goals was 0.19. This metric outlines that Liverpool have been clinical with their chances and are converting shots that on a probability basis, they aren’t expected to score.

The one that likely stands out is Szoboszlai’s 83^rd minute free kick goal against Arsenal from 35 yards out. The xG rating on that shot was 0.03, so the G – xG metric would be +0.97, which improved their overall metric.

Based on this data, it is clear to see that United need to be a lot more clinical with their chances to be able to compete near the top of the league.

For Liverpool, it will be interesting to see if they can continue this strong G – xG rating, or if they have had a few lucky bounces go their way early in the season.

For reference, United’s G – xG in the 2024-2025 Premier League season was -11.4 (negative 11.4) and Liverpool’s was +0.8; see the graph below.

Final Thoughts – Can United Improve Their Finishing?

Well, that’s it for this article. In this post, we took a look at Manchester United’s shot creating actions, shots, and goals for the first three matches of the 2025-2026 Premier League season (all data is of September 4, 2025).

While United are leading the Premier League in shot creating actions and as a result, shots, their shooting accuracy is 26.8% which is the 15^th lowest in the league. Furthermore, with only two goals scored to date, Manchester United’s G – xG metric is -4.7 (negative 4.7) which is the lowest in the league.

When compared to the current Premier League leaders, Liverpool, it is clear that United will have to be a lot more clinical in their chances moving forward to compete at the top.

What are your thoughts on Manchester United’s performance to date in the Premier League? While it is clear there have been an improvement from last season, do these shooting statistics surprise you?

Any predictions for how the remainder of the season will unfold for United? Do you think United’s struggles are bad luck or poor finishing quality?

Stay tuned for future posts and please send us a message if there is a specific topic you would like to see covered. Additionally, if you have some ideas on how to improve these articles, please send them our way too.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read these posts!

JC

All data in this article is from fbref.com so, thanks to them!