A Strange Phenomenon: An English Team Hasn't Scored a League Goal Yet
A paradox of years and the harshness of beginnings; there are moments in the history of the English league where big teams find themselves incapable of doing the simplest thing in football: scoring a goal.
So far in the 2025/26 season, Aston Villa, an English team, has joined a very short list of clubs that have failed to breach the opponent's net in the first four rounds of the Premier League season—a rare recent phenomenon that brings to mind disastrous starts preceding seasons that followed with recovery or further decline.
Aston Villa finds itself in an unenviable position after failing to score, becoming only the fifth team in history to face such a predicament.
How Many English Teams Have Failed to Score in the First 4 League Rounds?
Over more than three decades of the Premier League's existence, the phenomenon of an English team not scoring a goal has only occurred with five clubs, making it one of the strangest starts in the competition's history.
| Season | Club | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1993/94 | Sheffield Wednesday | A goalless start before the team later regained its balance |
| 2005/06 | Newcastle United | Four goalless rounds followed by a relative resurgence mid-season |
| 2011/12 | Swansea City | Attacking struggles upon their first Premier League promotion before the drought was broken |
| 2017/18 | Crystal Palace | Four consecutive losses without scoring led to the dismissal of coach Frank de Boer |
| 2025/26 | Aston Villa | The latest addition to the list after four matches without scoring |
After a goalless draw against Everton in the fourth round, Aston Villa became the only team in the top seven tiers of English football that has not scored any goals in the league so far.
History tells us that some teams recovered quickly after such disastrous starts, like Newcastle and Swansea, while others led to drastic changes, as happened with Crystal Palace.
For Aston Villa, the question remains: is this just a temporary setback, or is the team heading for a season full of struggle?
