Set pieces have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years.
While set play goals have always, and will always, be regular occurrences in football, they have suffered from some negative PR despite their undebatable significance.
Associated with Sean Dyche and Sam Allardyce teams pumping the ball into the penalty area at every opportunity as some gangly 6’5 striker launches himself at corner after corner, they had become pretty unfashionable in the tiki-taka era.
However, with set piece coaches now minor celebrities within their own right, social media’s tactical hipsters have identified dead ball situations as the new chic.
Here is where each Premier League side ranks in terms of set piece goals for the 2023/24 season – excluding penalties.
Opta define set piece goals as those coming from corners, free kicks (both direct and indirect) and throw-ins – of which Sheffield United have only scored two this season.
The Blades have been in desperate form since their return to the top flight and both Paul Heckingbottom and Chris Wilder have been unable to stop the rot at Bramall Lane.
Set pieces are often crucial for newly-promoted teams, levelling the playing field in the final third, but the Yorkshire side have been unable to take advantage of such situations.
Crystal Palace have some big lads in their squad, but they have been unable to find too many goals from set pieces – even with the likes of Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze on free kicks.
The Eagles have scored just three times from a century of set piece efforts, with an expected goals tally of 7.59 from dead balls.
Much like fellow strugglers Sheffield United, Vincent Kompany’s Burnley have been pretty rubbish at everything this season, and that includes set pieces.
The Clarets have been dismal in both boxes when it comes to set pieces, netting just three times and conceding on 14 occasions.
Similarly to Burnley, set pieces have proved a problem in both halves for Nottingham Forest, with the Midlands club having scored four but conceded a league-high 17.
To put that into context, they have conceded over a third of their goals this season from set pieces, while just 12% of their strikes have come…
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