IT’S the poser that is flummoxing Premier League observers this season: just why are so many goals being scored?

The total of 295 in 99 games – meaning an average of almost three goals a match – is by some distance the highest at this stage of a campaign since the top-flight was reduced to 20 teams in 1995.

For many, it’s a sign of the wonderful array of attacking talent that English football can boast at present.

For others, however, the statistics are an indication of how the art of defending is being lost in favour of ball-playing centre-backs and marauding full-backs.

One player who could never be accused of being attack-minded is Everton’s Tony Hibbert; a record of precisely no goals in 281 career appearances is testament to that.

But his defensive qualities are precisely the type the likes of Andre Villa-Boas, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger would desperately want drilled into their wandering rearguards.

Now in his 12th Premier League season, Hibbert has reclaimed his role in the Everton first-team ahead of club skipper Phil Neville.

And as he prepares to help keep Newcastle United at bay at St James’ Park this afternoon, the 30-year-old homegrown talent has received a ringing endorsement from his manager.

“Tony probably gets taken for granted a bit, he’s been playing more than 11 years in the Premier League now,” says David Moyes. “He’s not been everybody’s main player.