Three matchdays into the 2026-27 Premier League season, and the analytics are already talking. Opta Analyst released a detailed breakdown on September 7, 2026, tracking which players have been most involved in open-play attacking sequences across the opening weeks of the new campaign.
What the metric actually measures
Open-play attacking sequences are exactly what they sound like: passages of play, excluding set pieces, that result in a shot or a clear chance being created. This is a broader lens than traditional output stats. A player can go three games without a goal or an assist and still rank among the league’s most influential attackers by this measure, because the metric credits anyone whose touch or run kept a dangerous move moving.
The data released covers Matchdays 1 through 3, spanning the mid-to-late August period when the season kicked off and running through the first weekend of September. That window captures each team’s first three fixtures, offering a consistent baseline across the entire league.
Arsenal and Manchester City among the early pace-setters
