This study aimed to analyse goal scoring patterns in football with a different angle from what has been done up to today in the performance analysis research. It was done through the lens of the momentum theory. Momentum is a known
psychological concept that has been attempted to be translated to sports. Thus, behavioural momentum was considered in this study. There was an attempt to quantify momentum through games events, and in the end, a model was developed to get values of momentum for each minute of each game analysed. A moving average on five minutes was used to smooth the values. The values were expressed in momentum points. Teams that participated to the Premier League 2017/18 season were separated in three groups following their final rank in the table. Group A was made of the teams ranked 1st to 6th, Group B with teams from 7th to 14th place and finally Group C was composed of teams that finished 15th to 20th. 201 goals from 120 games were analysed. For each goal, the momentum value of the minute in which it was scored was extracted. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean values of each groups as a one-way ANOVA (F(2,198) = 2.150, p = .119) was conducted. This study could well be adapted to investigate similarly other turning points such as goals conceded or substitutions.
Key