Mikel Arteta has been delighted with his “finishers” all season. Little wonder.
With seven games to play, Arsenal are in pole position to win a first Premier League title since 2004. They sit nine points clear at the top of the table and are the league’s top scorers with 61 goals. They also boast the most goal contributions by substitutes with 21 (11 goals and 10 assists).
In their last league match, a 2-0 win over Everton, the goals were scored by substitutes Viktor Gyokeres and 16-year-old Max Dowman.
“The impact that the finishers are having this season is remarkable,” head coach Arteta said after that win.
But the same cannot be said for Manchester City. While they are in a not unfamiliar position — second and chasing Arsenal with a game in hand as the season heads reaches its business end — they have only had two goal contributions from their substitutes all season (one goal and one assist).
Arsenal’s success with substitutions has been a hallmark of their season, but which other Premier League sides are changing games with their changes — and who is lacking spark from the bench? We asked our reporters…
Arsenal
In addition to the much-discussed defensive solidity and set-piece prowess of this Arsenal side, effective substitutions are also an important part of their armoury.
Substitutes, or “finishers” as Arteta calls them, have been a key part of unlocking stubborn defences throughout the season.
Arsenal entered the 2025-26 campaign with arguably the deepest squad in the league, and they have used their wide range of firepower to turn the tide in their favour in games.
Mikel Arteta briefs Gabriel Martinelli (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Whether that be freshening up the wide threat with Noni Madueke or Gabriel Martinelli or strengthening the defence with Cristhian Mosquera, Arteta hasn’t refrained from utilising his bench.
He even made a quadruple substitution on 58 minutes at home against Manchester United on January 25 while chasing the game.
Nnamdi Onyeagwara
Aston Villa
Unai Emery’s substitutions continue to have an effect this season, even if their impact has slowed — 13 goal involvements rank Villa third in the league, making early and frequent substitutions, averaging more than four per match, with those coming on accounting for 8.7 per cent of the team’s overall minutes this campaign.
Donyell Malen remains the most introduced (16), despite leaving in January and taking a chunk of goals with him. Emiliano Buendia, often workmanlike but toiling, has been hooked on 18 occasions.
Jacob Tanswell
Brentford
Mathias Jensen has started 11 games in a row for Brentford, but at the start of the season he was a lethal super sub. Jensen scored against Manchester United and West Ham United after only coming on just before full time.
Keith Andrews’ trump card is actually Keane Lewis-Potter. The 25-year-old is capable of playing at full-back or on either wing, making him the perfect utility player for Brentford — he has come off the bench more than any of his team-mates (14).
Jay Harris
Brighton & Hove Albion
For context, Fabian Hurzeler makes lots of second-half substitutions to suit his demand for intensity with and without the ball. Even so, it is impressive that many of them have an impact — nine goals and five assists from substitutes places Brighton second in the table, below only Arsenal.
The most used sub is Charalampos Kostoulas (14 times) and that has worked well. The 18-year-old Greek striker has contributed two goals and two assists from the bench, including a spectacular bicycle-kick equaliser to rescue a 1-1 home draw against Bournemouth in January.
Andy Naylor
Charalampos Kostoulas came off the bench to score against Bournemouth (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Burnley
Scott Parker has been able to impact games from the bench this season with his side sixth for goal contributions (11) from substitutes. Part of the reason he has turned to his bench so often (4.5 per game) is due to his side conceding the first goal 23 times in 30 Premier League matches. With only one victory in their last 21, they have been chasing games heading into the final stages.
Jacob Bruun Larsen (16) has been Burnley’s most-used substitute, but has not managed to impact a game — 10 different players have though, and that has helped salvage five of the 20 points Burnley have accumulated so far this season.
Andy Jones
Bournemouth
Bournemouth rank fourth in the league for substitutions made per game (4.5), but ninth for percentage of minutes given to those players (eight).
A handy 12 goal contributions have come from the bench, though, including some memorable ones such as Eli Junior Kroupi’s late equalisers against Leeds and Manchester United. Kroupi’s three total goals as a substitute only trail Benjamin Sesko’s four. January arrival Rayan got a memorable assist on his debut — a 2-0 win over Wolves — before transitioning to a starting role.
Fatigue at the end of games was a major factor in Andoni Iraola’s first two seasons. While it has popped up on occasion in 2025-26 too, Bournemouth have been able to call on their substitutes to make a difference more often than in previous years.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Chelsea
The lack of impact Chelsea’s substitutes have had is one of their main issues this season. A return of five goals and three assists puts the contribution from the club’s substitutes in mid-table. It is not a great return given Chelsea’s subs get more game time than anyone else.
It is also a case of how important the type of contributions are, not just how many. In terms of goals alone, you think of Estevao Willian’s late winner versus Liverpool (2-1), plus Joao Pedro and Marc Cucurella starting the comeback at home against West Ham (from 2-0 down to 3-2) as key to turning a match around. But that’s about it.
The fact a more defensive player in Andrey Santos (12) has been the most subbed on member of the squad betrays an attempt to find control rather than going for it in attack.
Simon Johnson
Crystal Palace
Oliver Glasner is not especially eager to make changes to his team, whether that is between games or with substitutions. It is important to him that everyone knows what they are doing, building familiarity and consistency.
Until the January transfer window — during which Palace signed Brennan Johnson, Evann Guessand and Jorgen Strand Larsen — he could point to a lack of real options from the bench as well.
So it comes as little surprise that the 5.9 per cent of his squad’s minutes that have come from substitutes is the second lowest total in the league. Or, therefore, that the five goals and assists they have contributed is the third lowest.
Matt Woosnam
Everton
It should come as little surprise that only Manchester City have had fewer goal involvements from substitutes than Everton this season. Manager David Moyes’ average of 3.3 changes per game is the lowest in the league, with his substitutes also playing the lowest proportion of minutes.
Moyes’ changes have made a difference at times. Thierno Barry came off the bench to score the winner at Newcastle United, while Beto grabbed a 97th-minute equaliser against Brighton.
But Everton have been reluctant to turn to their bench and often lack the firepower to influence games.
Patrick Boyland
David Moyes makes a rare change (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
Fulham
Since the start of last season, Fulham’s substitutes have scored more Premier League goals than any other side (25, just ahead of Arsenal on 23).
Rodrigo Muniz has been particularly effective, bullying tiring defences with his physicality and sharp finishing. He scored six goals as a substitute last season, another Premier League-leading tally, but Tom Cairney’s slightly subtler contributions have been just as crucial.
Often arriving off the bench in the final 20 minutes, the club captain offers the leadership, technical ability and composure required in tight games. His sublime late equaliser at Crystal Palace on New Year’s Day was handy, too.
Justin Guthrie
Leeds United
Only three teams have given a smaller percentage of their overall minutes to substitutes than Leeds. That is unlikely to come as a surprise to fans well-versed in Daniel Farke’s general reluctance to use his bench before the 70th minute.
United only rank 13th for goals and assists delivered by substitutes as a result. However, there have been big moments from the dugout.
Lukas Nmecha has twice come on to score late winners in 1-0 victories for Leeds this season. He’s the club’s de facto super sub. Ao Tanaka’s unforgettable stoppage-time equaliser against Liverpool also came from the bench.
Beren Cross
Liverpool
One of the success stories from Liverpool’s title-winning season last year was how well they used their substitutes.
It wasn’t so much about players coming off the bench and having a goalscoring impact — although that did happen to good effect — but more about how Liverpool were able to see out games and manage them effectively by utilising fringe players to good effect.
This season, though, Liverpool’s options off the bench have been limited due to injuries to key players. Several youngsters have therefore been included in the squad and rarely used. Only Federico Chiesa, Rio Ngumoha and Alexander Isak have scored goals off the bench, and the combined total of four is the fifth-lowest recorded in the division.
Arne Slot looks to the substitutes’ bench for inspiration (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
The player most likely to be introduced is Chiesa (21 times), while Florian Wirtz has been withdrawn (16 times) the most often. Only five teams have given a smaller percentage of their overall minutes to substitutes than Liverpool.
Gregg Evans
Manchester City
This is obviously not an area that City are thriving in, and there is a bit of chicken and egg about it: do they struggle to score in the second half because their subs aren’t good, or are their subs not good because they struggle to score in the second half?
City have not scored after the break in 15 league games. They have only done so in two league games since December 27. That is a stark statistic, and it just goes to show that City are working through a few issues as they continue the process of rebuilding their team.
They have had problems with controlling matches when teams up the tempo against them, and they have missed a lot of chances this season. Things like that help explain why they are not yet at their old levels and will have a big say in why their substitutes struggle on the creative front.
Sam Lee
Manchester United
Manchester United’s use of substitutions is a tale of two tactical approaches. Under Ruben Amorim, at least one match change was typically reserved for a centre-back to maintain freshness within the 3-4-3 preferred by the head coach.
Michael Carrick’s interregnum has seen United mix things up. Benjamin Sesko has become his favoured Plan B, with four of the striker’s nine goals this season coming from a substitute role.
Carrick — who was criticised for being hesitant when making subs at Middlesbrough — appears more experimental in his new role. In February, Leny Yoro put in a tremendous 22-minute cameo against West Ham, when his team went in search of a winner.
The interim coach shares a similar problem to Amorim, in that United look noticeably weaker after Casemiro is substituted off (usually for Manuel Ugarte), but the team often use subs to play their way out of tricky situations.
Carl Anka
Casemiro watches from the substitutes’ bench after being replaced against Newcastle (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Newcastle United
Eddie Howe’s substitutions are a source of frustration for some Newcastle fans, who feel they are formulaic and often like-for-like.
Seemingly, they have not had a game-changing effect as often as Howe would have liked either, with Newcastle merely joint 13th for goals and assists from substitutes (seven).
Of their four replacements to have scored, only Will Osula has found the back of the net more than once, equalising against Liverpool (a game Newcastle eventually lost) and then delivering a memorable solo winner against Manchester United.
Jacob Murphy, Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon have managed a goal apiece off the bench, while Sven Botman and Lewis Miley are the only substitutes to provide an assist.
These statistics perhaps help to explain why Newcastle have struggled late on in matches so often.
Chris Waugh
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest spent £200million adding 13 new signings to strengthen their squad last summer — including £100million on three wingers in Omari Hutchinson, Dan Ndoye and Dilane Bakwa.
Yet they have mustered only two goals from players coming off the bench — the second fewest in the Premier League — along with four assists. Hutchinson has often looked effective as a substitute and has contributed two of the four assists that have come from the subs.
Generally, amid the chaos of four managers in the space of a season, it is a little surprising that Forest — who averaged 4.39 subs per game last season under Nuno Espirito Santo — have averaged among the fewest changes (3.8) this time around.
Paul Taylor
Sunderland
Limited use of substitutions (just 3.7 per game, the fourth-lowest in the Premier League) might generate some rancour as Sunderland’s results have tailed off post-Christmas and the team needs a boost, but it’s also understandable.
Promotion with a young, cheap squad — one with almost literally no top-tier experience — created a need to buy a whole new first team. That was achieved, but has still left Regis Le Bris with little to call on in reserve.
Even as players have tired, Le Bris’ substitute usage hasn’t changed: before January, 7.4 per cent of league minutes had been played by subs. Since then, it is 7.3 per cent. In simple terms, the quality just is not there and, as ever, money tells the tale — Sunderland’s bench is the cheapest in the division.
Brian Brobbey, the team’s clear first-choice striker, remains their most effective sub this season, having notched two goals and an assist when deemed insufficiently fit to start.
Chris Weatherspoon
Tottenham Hotspur
In the first half of the season, Spurs had a habit of coming from behind in games. Then head coach Thomas Frank would tweak the team’s shape and throw on a few extra attackers. It worked perfectly in November’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United when Mathys Tel scored and Wilson Odobert set up Richarlison after they had both come off the bench.
Tel has made the most appearances for Spurs as a substitute this season and has often been a spark for an improved second-half performance. The opposite is true of Randal Kolo Muani — he has been subbed off 13 times during a miserable loan spell where he has only scored once in 22 league games.
Jay Harris
Richarlison, Mathys Tel and Xavi Simons were introduced in the 77th minute at Newcastle (George Wood/Getty Images)
West Ham United
It is encouraging for West Ham United that their goal contributions from substitutes (eight) is higher than fellow relegation contenders Nottingham Forest.
There have been memorable moments this season where players made a huge impact from the bench, such as Callum Wilson’s winner in the 2-1 victory against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in January, and Tomas Soucek’s goals in back-to-back league games against Newcastle United and Burnley.
Despite an initial slow start at the helm, the use of substitutes from head coach Nuno is another reminder of the impact he has belatedly had on his players.
Roshane Thomas
Wolverhampton Wanderers
It is no surprise to see Wolves in the top half of this table given that head coach Rob Edwards’ plan has been to stay in games in the first half and then make changes after half-time with a view to winning.
It is a plan that has started to work in the last couple of months and, despite his side looking certain to be relegated, Edwards has overseen just four league defeats in the last 13 games.
Tolu Arokodare and Rodrigo Gomes are Wolves’ joint leading scorers in the league this season, albeit with just three goals each, and five of those six strikes have come from the bench.
Steve Madeley
