Early kick-off times have been part of the English footballing calendar since the 1990s. They were designed to reduce fan violence and alcohol consumption, particularly before derby games.
However, with the global appeal of the Premier League and the need to appease new audiences, the reasons behind their increasing prominence in today’s game have come into question. Figures show that a decade ago, traditional 3pm starts accounted for half (51 per cent) of all matches but this has dropped to 36 per cent.
But what does the rest of the data say? We’ve analysed every Premier League match since the 2014-15 season to see if more goals are scored in matches outside of 3pm kick-offs and assess if there are more shock results in matches