With the 2012/2013 Premier League season kicking off in a matter of days and teams desperately searching for that striker who scores 20+ goals a season, we look at just what percentage of each teams goals are scored by their strikers.

We have looked at what percentage of each teams overall goals were scored by their strikers last season and what percentage of their goals have been scored by their strikers in the last four seasons.

The headings in each table had to be abbreviated so we have included a key to show what each abbreviation stands for in the article.

2011/2012 Premier League Season

Manchester City scored the most goals in the Premier League last season, scoring 93 times. Manchester United scored 89 times, Arsenal scored 74 times, Spurs scored 66 times and Chelsea scored 65 times. In comparison t Stoke only managed to score 36 goals last season.

Man City’s strikers also scored the most goals last season (54), as they scored 1 more goal than Man United’s strikers, 19 more goals than Newcastle’s strikers and 22 more times than Tottenham’s strikers. At the other end of the scale Chelsea’s strikers only managed 11 goals last season, while Wigan’s strikers only managed 9 goals.

However, although Man City’s strikers scored the most goals last season they did not score the highest percentage of their teams overall goals, as Newcastle’s strikers scored 62.5% of their teams goals last season.

Surprisingly, Stoke’s strikers scored 61.11% of their team’s goals last season even though their team scored the fewest amount of goals. Therefore, if Stoke’s midfielders had contributed more goals during the season then they would have surely improved on their 14th place finish and a goalscoring midfielder must be high on Tony Pulis wish list this summer!

Man United’s strikers contributed the third highest percentage of their teams overall goals last season, as Rooney and co scored 59.55% of their teams goals last season – 1.49% more than Champions Manchester City.

The team whose strikers contributed the least amount of goals last season were Chelsea, as their strikers only scored 16.92% of their goals last season. This is why it is surprising that Roberto Di Matteo has not gone out and spent money on a big name striker, especially with the loss of Didier Drogba. With Chelsea’s strikers only scoring 16.92% of their goals last season it puts a lot of pressure on new boys Hazard, Oscar and Marin as well as the old boys Lampard, Mata and Sturridge to score the goals for the upcoming season. Although, I for one can see Fernando Torres getting back to his best this season and scoring a high percentage of Chelsea’s goals.

So, we have looked at which teams relied the most on their strikers to score their goals last season, but how much have they relied on their strikers in the last four seasons?

The Last Four Premier League Seasons

As you can see Manchester United have scored 321 goals in the last four seasons, which is more than any other team. Chelsea have scored 305 goals, Arsenal have scored 296 goals and Manchester City have scored 284 goals. The team that has scored the least amount of goals that has played in all four season is Stoke who have scored 154 goals.

Man United’s strikers have also scored the highest amount of goals in the last four seasons, as they have racked up a total of 181 goals. This is 19 more goals than Man City’s strikers, 68 more goals that Tottenham’s strikers and 73 more goals than Arsenal’s strikers.

As well as their strikers scoring the highest percentage of their teams goals during the 2011/2012 Premier League season, Newcastle’s strikers have also scored the highest percentage of their teams goals in the last four seasons, as they have contributed a massive 59.97% of Newcastle’s goals. However, Newcastle only played in the Premier League in three of the last four seasons, so it would have been interesting to see if this would still be the case if they had not been relegated. West Ham’s strikers contributed the second highest amount of their team’s goals (57.58%) but again only played in three of the last four Premier League seasons.

Sunderland’s strikers have contributed 57.56% of their team’s overall goals in the last four seasons and this is the highest percentage out of all the teams that have played in all four seasons. Sunderland’s strikers also scored 77% of their teams goals during the 2009/2010 season – a staggering statistic.

Man City’s strikers contributed the second highest percentage of their overall goals, as they scored 57.04% of their goals while Manchester United’s strikers scored 56.39% of United’s goals in the last four seasons.

Chelsea’s strikers again contributed the fewest amount of goals for their team, as they only scored 30.82% of their teams goals in the last four seasons. This was only 0.20% less than Liverpool though, whose strikers scored 31.02% of their goals. This shows us one main thing though – Chelsea and Liverpool have goalscoring midfielders such as Lampard and Gerrard that consistently score a high amount of goals each season, which is why their percentages are so low as they don’t have to rely so much on their strikers to score goals.

It is difficult to say whether having a high percentage of goals scored by your strikers is a good or bad thing as there are different ways of looking at it. Teams may have a high percentage of goals scored by their strikers as their strikers are in form and can’t stop scoring like Robin Van Persie last season, while teams may also have a high percentage of goals scored by their strikers as their midfielders and defenders aren’t contributing many goals. Teams like Chelsea and Liverpool might have low percentages due to the fact they score goals from all over (or their big-money strikers just haven’t performed), while other teams might have low percentages due their strikers being off form and just not scoring goals.