Just a trend or a change in football? The numbers behind the Premier League's set-piece craze

Trends in football have always had a tendency to be ever changing and, with a new philosophy taking a grip on the football world, it seems that we have entered the era of the set-piece.

When Tony Pulis was Stoke City manager in the late noughties and early 2010s, scoring a set-piece was a string to the bow of the perennial underdog, a tool which could be used to lessen the gap between the big teams and those with budgets that were much smaller.

However, with football becoming increasingly robotic and competitive - not to mention the ability of those underdogs to compete financially - teams have been looking for more ways to earn those marginal gains over their opposition.

That is where set-pieces show their value.

The numbers behind the rapid rise in the use of set-pieces in the Premier League are mind blowing, with a league record of 19% of the goals in the 2025/26 season so far coming from corners alone (45 of 241).

In total, 67 goals have come from all set-pieces (excluding penalties) which brings the percentage up to 27.8%, dwarfing the 21.7% average over the last decade.

The Premier League leads the way for corner goals against its European counterparts, with the Serie A (17.6%), Ligue 1 (16.0%), La Liga (13.8%) and the Bundesliga (12.6%) some way behind.

The English top flight has also set an unwanted record so far this term, with the 115 open play goals scored after the opening eight matches the lowest for two decades.

Whilst fans and pundits alike will debate its entertainment factor, it is clear that the rise in set-piece prominence so far this season has been effective for those who best utilise it and, with all of that in mind, let's take a deeper look into the numbers and causes of this recent phenomenon.

The rise of the set-piece coach

Just four years ago, the idea of a set-piece coach was laughed off in the mainstream media, with most pundits unable to see the value of having a specialist at something which had been handled by the head coach in years gone by.

Former Liverpool and Fulham midfielder Danny Murphy was quoted on Match of the Day saying: "I think set-pieces is something a normal coach can do, you do not need to bring in a specific set-piece coach, personally, I don’t think".

Fast forward to the present and the majority of Premier League clubs now employ a specific coach for set-pieces, so much so that Brentford promoted their set-piece coach to head coach following the departure of Thomas Frank to Tottenham Hotspur.

Set-piece coaches divide the opinion of football fans, typically due to their tendency to take the lead on the touchline for set-pieces, but there is no doubting that they are effective.

Crystal Palace (15), Aston Villa (14), Arsenal and Everton (13) had the highest number of set-piece goals in 2024/25, with all four sides having a designated set-piece coach in that time, showing a clear correlation between employing a set-piece coach and scoring a high number of set-pieces.

It is clear that the spike in set-piece goals has coincided with a rise in the number of set-piece coaches in the league, but let's take a deeper dive into the clearest case study in the Premier League, Nicholas Jover and Arsenal.

Arsenal's set-pieces: Sustainable source of goals or destined to dry out?

Arsenal's set-piece statistics this season are nothing short of miraculous.

The Gunners currently sit top of the Premier League, scoring the fourth most goals in the process. But that doesn't tell the full story...

Mikel Arteta's side rank first in the Europe for set-piece goals since the start of the 2023/24 season (37), with the next highest being Borussia Monchengladbach, who have scored just 26 goals in that time.

However, their set-piece supremacy has come at the detriment of their open play game, with just five of their 16 goals so far this season (31%) coming from open play.

This ranks them 20th for percentage of goals from open play, whilst their 57% of their xG coming from open play ranks them 19th.

Furthermore, without set-pieces this season, Arteta's side would sit fifth in the table rather than the four points clear at the top that they currently are.

Currently, their imperious defence - which has seen them concede just three Premier League goals this season - has allowed them to win matches without needing to score multiple goals in matches, meaning that their over-reliance on set-pieces has had little to no negative impact thus far.

However, should Arteta's outfit suddenly leak goals in defence, they will need to improve their numbers in open play or risk allowing a golden title opportunity to slip once more.

Long throws and Brentford's Italian answer to Rory Delap

A key staple of the new set-piece renaissance in the Premier League has been the return of the long throw.

Not since Rory Delap and Stoke have we seen teams consistently look to create shooting opportunities directly from throw-ins.

The statistics back this up. In the 2024/25 season there were 1.52 long throws per match, up 0.05 from the previous campaign and up 0.63 on the 2020/21 season, seeing a gradual year-on-year increase.

However, as we look at the stats so far from 2025/26, that number has more than doubled to 3.25 per 90 minutes.

After the first eight match weeks in 2020/21, there had been just nine shots from long throw-ins. In the first eight matches of 2025/26, there were 113.

The closest seasons on record to this, were 2010/11 - which saw 78 long throws in the opening eight match weeks - and 2009/10 - which saw 77.

Brentford have been the biggest beneficiaries of the long throw in recent seasons, scoring eight goals in the league directly from long throw-ins, more than double that of any other side in the division.

In their most recent match - against defending champions Liverpool - Brentford and their Italian right-back Michael Kayode attempted 10 long throws, scoring from one of them.

The ability to launch a ball into the box from a throw-in has always been regarded as an ace up the sleeve of the side which possesses it and Brentford seem to have found their answer to the great Delap.

Just a trend or a sign of things to come?

Following Guardiola's arrival at Manchester City, football all across the pyramid underwent a revolution, with the typical brutish centre-backs replaced by ball-playing, less physical defenders and sides all across the country shifted to playing out from the back.

This has allowed the era of the set-piece to return and, with less physical sides in English football, it is hard to see the trend slowing down any time soon.

While some sides may benefit in the short-term, it will be interesting to see how those who don't will react and change their systems to limit the effectiveness of set-pieces.