Championship fans hoping for an explosive opening first day to the season should calm their expectations.
With the 2014/2015 campaign getting underway this weekend, we have taken the opening round results for the last 10 years and compared them to the results from the remainder of the season.
On average, a game on the first day of the Championship season will yield 2.4 goals.
However, the average number of goals scored in games excluding the first game of the season is 2.6 a game.
In fact, in the last 10 years there have only been two seasons where the opening day has scored more goals than that season’s average. In 2008 and 2011, teams averaged 3.2 and three goals per game on the opening day, as opposed to 2.5 and 2.7 on other games of the season.
DATA:
Season | Average per match on opening day | Average non-first day | Difference |
2005 | 2.3 | 2.4 | -0.2 |
2006 | 2.1 | 2.4 | -0.4 |
2007 | 2.2 | 2.6 | -0.5 |
2008 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 0.7 |
2009 | 2.1 | 2.5 | -0.4 |
2010 | 2.4 | 2.6 | -0.2 |
2011 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 0.3 |
2012 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 0.0 |
2013 | 2.0 | 2.7 | -0.7 |
2014 | 2.3 | 2.6 | -0.3 |
Average | 2.4 | 2.6 | -0.2 |
Huddersfield Town themselves have failed to score on both of their Championship openers since returning to the second tier in 2012.
Two years ago, they were downed in the very last minute at the Cardiff City Stadium thanks to Mark Hudson's close-range strike while they fared little better last year as they lost by the same scoreline at Nottingham Forest courtesy of a Henri Lansbury goal.
Town entertain Bournemouth on opening day this time around and will hope a first home match since their return to this division will help them get back into a goalscoring groove from the outset.
