It is well documented that the arrival of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola to the Premier League coincided with the increase in popularity of a ball-playing goalkeeper. One of his first actions was to replace Joe Hart with Claudio Bravo, before bringing in Ederson in the summer of 2017. The Brazil goalkeeper, who had been an outfield player as a youngster, was brought in largely because of his excellent passing ability and comfort with the ball at his feet.
The vast majority of teams in the Premier League are going short from their goal-kicks most of the time, with 11 of the 20 teams playing at least 50% of them inside their own area, and 17 of the 20 playing most of them in their own half.
"The result is a heavy result, for what we played in the game," said Vitor Pereira after a Monday night where Wolves had simultaneously managed to appear quite close to Nottingham Forest yet, at the same time, miles away from beating them. Wolves lost by three, but could easily have scored more than that themselves. Forest's goalkeeper Matz Sels had much more to do than Jose Sa, yet from the moment they took the lead the visitors played with a quiet confidence.
Championship games between Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough and Sunderland will be screened live on free-to-air TV