No team has conceded more goals from set-pieces in Europe’s top five leagues this season than Liverpool, while they’re not threatening from them much at the other end. What’s going wrong for the Premier League champions?
Liverpool secured a win over Wolves at Anfield on Saturday that took them up to fourth place in the Premier League table. It made it three league victories on the spin for the champions, and was another small step in putting their disastrous form from October and November, during which they slipped into the bottom half, behind them.
However, despite the three points, the home game against the division’s worst side was not without its uncomfortable moments, and the chief reason was a familiar Achilles heel.
Despite dominating the first half and leading 2-0 thanks to goals from Ryan Gravenberch and the increasingly impressive Florian Wirtz – his first for the club – Arne Slot’s men found the deficit halved by their opponents early in the second half after Santiago Bueno struck.
The goal, as so many against Liverpool have been this season, came from a set-piece. André’s inswinging corner was headed at goal by Tolu Arokodare, forcing a save from Alisson, only for the alert Bueno to knock in the rebound.
It was the 12th goal Liverpool have conceded in the Premier League this season from a set-piece (excluding penalties); no side has allowed more (level with Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest). In fact, no team in Europe’s top five leagues has conceded more.
It put pressure on the hosts, who eventually held out to win but were made to sweat for it, as they were against nine-man Tottenham in similar circumstances a week earlier, conceding from a corner after being 2-0 up but holding on desperately by the end.
While both games ended in maximum points, which absolutely cannot be sniffed at right now given how far off the pace Liverpool have been for much of the campaign, the last thing they need is added pressure.
It is a big problem for the defending champions, who haven’t conceded more than 12 goals from non-penalty set-pieces in the Premier League since the 2015-16 season (15), and we’re still one game away from the halfway point of 2025-26.
They have conceded three times from throw-ins, the joint-most in the Premier League along with Newcastle United, and twice from free-kicks. However, of particular concern is their record from corners.
Liverpool have conceded seven goals from corners in the Premier League this season; only West Ham United (10) have conceded more. In fact, Liverpool have only conceded more goals from corners in a whole Premier League season three times, and one of those was in the inaugural campaign in 1992-93 (9) when they played 42 games.
This is a relatively new problem, though. Liverpool only conceded nine goals from non-penalty set-pieces last season, and just three from corners; only Aston Villa (2) conceded fewer. The first goal the Reds conceded from a corner in the league in 2024-25 didn’t even occur until late January, which was a late consolation against Ipswich Town in a game in which Liverpool were already 4-0 up. So, at this point last season, they were still yet to concede at all from corners.
Of course, a big part of this could be chalked down to the general explosion in set-piece goals in the Premier League this season. An incredible 28.6% of goals in the English top flight in 2025-26 have come from non-penalty set-pieces (144 of 503). Last season, it was just 20.6%.
Is it just bad luck, though, or is there a noticeable pattern? Let’s look at all 12 set-piece goals Liverpool have conceded in the league this season.
The first two came in the dramatic 3-2 win at Newcastle on Matchday 2. With Liverpool holding a 2-0 lead against hosts who had been reduced to 10 men, Newcastle then got one back after a long throw wasn’t cleared properly, allowing Bruno Guimarães to head in from the subsequent cross. The equaliser then came from a long free-kick that Dan Burn was able to flick on for William Osula to score.
There were another two in their first dropped points of the season at Crystal Palace. The first came after failing to clear a corner, with Ismaïla Sarr firing in, and the winner for the Eagles came deep in stoppage time – a simple finish at the back post for Eddie Nketiah after Liverpool again failed to clear the ball properly, this time from a long throw.
Manchester United’s winner at Anfield was another example of the initial corner not being dealt with. A shot from the edge of the box ricocheted back to Bruno Fernandes and Liverpool weren’t set for the ball back in, allowing Harry Maguire a free header to score.
They fell 1-0 behind at Brentford in an eventual 3-2 defeat, losing the first header from a long throw and allowing Dango Ouattara an easy goal from point-blank range.
It was slightly different at Man City, going 2-0 behind just before half-time as they fell asleep from a short corner, with defenders taking too long to recognise the danger to allow Nico González a free shot from the edge of the box that deflected in.
Arguably their worst performance of the season included two more set-piece goals at home to Nottingham Forest. Liverpool fell behind after failing to clear a corner at the near post, seeing the ball fall to Murillo, who fired in. Forest made it 3-0 in the second half when a quick free-kick caught the hosts napping, allowing Omari Hutchinson to cut in from the right and shoot, with Morgan Gibbs-White tapping in from the rebound.
They had broadly dealt well with the threat from Leeds United at Elland Road until second-half stoppage time, when an inswinging corner bounced off Gravenberch and reached the unmarked Ao Tanaka at the far post to equalise.
Despite having an extra man against Spurs at the time, another corner was not cleared, which allowed Richarlison to score from right in front of goal, while as already described, Bueno was given a similarly easy finish for Wolves on Saturday after Arokodare won the first header from a corner and no Liverpool player was in position to react to Alisson’s parry.
Every goal was either decisive (occurred in a game Liverpool drew or lost by a single goal), or in the case of wins over Newcastle, Spurs and Wolves, put games in which they had held a 2-0 lead back in the balance. Against Palace, United, Brentford and Forest and Leeds, a set-piece goal was either the opener, the winner or the equaliser in a game in which Liverpool dropped points.
As you may have gathered from that rundown, the problem seems to be in reacting to the first contact. None of those 12 goals came directly from the first contact at a set-piece, and several came from balls sent back into the box after a poor clearance or deflection.
Perhaps this could all be forgiven if Liverpool were at least able to score plenty from their own set-pieces too, but that hasn’t been the case. They have scored just three non-pen set-piece goals in the Premier League this season; no other team has fewer (level with Wolves and Brentford) and just one goal from a corner; only Brentford (0) have fewer. Only 10.3% of Liverpool’s non-penalty goals this season in the league have been from set-pieces, comfortably the lowest percentage of any team.
Liverpool’s non-pen set-piece difference of -9 is the worst in the Premier League in 2025-26; they are one of only seven teams with a negative difference. Outside of the relegation zone, only the Reds, Forest (-8), Bournemouth (-6) and Palace (-2) have a negative difference.
By comparison, league leaders Arsenal have a +8 difference, just ahead of Spurs (+7), Man Utd (+5) and Sunderland (+5).
Ahead of the game with Wolves, Slot was in full agreement in his press conference that his team needed to improve when it came to set-pieces.
“I know the importance of set-pieces – it gets more and more and more,” he said. “That’s why we are so annoyed by our current record, because it’s impossible to [finish in the] top four, top five with our set-piece balance, let alone winning the league.
“Our set-up is the same. Defensively, our set-up is the same as almost any other team in the league. And if you look at xG, then you wouldn’t expect us to concede so many goals. So, you could argue then if things go back to normal, we will not concede as much anymore.
“But after half a season is it still a coincidence that we concede so much more than what you would expect us to concede? That’s a difficult one.”
After the win against Wolves, Slot was asked again about it and added: “I think scoring goals in the Premier League is not easy, I mean in open play. I see this in almost every single game I watch because of the amount of set-piece goals scored [increases]. Unfortunately, we’re maybe the only team that hardly ever scores from a set-piece and, even worse, we constantly concede.
“In the last two games we conceded a set-piece but we were able to win and that hasn’t happened that many times this season. That’s, again, progress for me, but it’s obvious there are more things for us to improve and this is definitely one of them… I think we have been unlucky in multiple situations in our set-pieces [but] it is 18 games now and we need to improve.”
It could be argued that Liverpool deciding not to go along with the general trend of taking inswinging corners is a part of the reason for their lack of threat – they are one of just four Premier League teams who have taken fewer than 70% of their crossed corners as inswingers this season. They have also taken the highest percentage of their crossed corners as outswingers (42.7%), so the ball is generally landing further away from the opposition goal. However, that can’t be the only reason. Leeds have the second highest percentage of crossed corners as outwsingers (42.1%) and have had decent success (six goals scored).
As you can see from the corner-end-location graphics below, which show the zones in which each corner receives its first contact, far more of their corners faced are being sent close to goal than their corners taken, with 26% of them being put right on top of the goalkeeper in the middle of the six-yard box. They aren’t necessarily as dangerous as the high number of goals against suggest, though.
Liverpool have the third lowest xG assisted against from corners (0.53) – the total xG of the shots taken following chance-creating passes – after Man City and Brentford. Only four teams have a lower percentage of corners against where the first involvement has been a shot (12.9%). In fact, Liverpool’s seven goals against from corners have come from 2.8 xG; only five teams have a lower xG against from shots following a corner.
And that is part of Slot’s argument. His team have been sloppy at times, but you could argue they have also been quite unlucky. Their set-piece difference may be -9 goals, but according to their xG, it should only be -1.6; their xG for from non-pen set-pieces is 4.3, compared to 5.9 against.
Again, Liverpool’s lack of threat from attacking set-pieces is an odd dip from last season when they scored 10 non-pen set-piece goals, including eight from corners; only five teams scored more. Last term’s title win was largely down to their productivity in open play, though, scoring 67 open-play goals, five more than Manchester City, and at least 17 more than anyone else.
This season, only City have scored more open-play goals, with Liverpool’s 26 at least six more than any other team. They’ve had the most open-play shots in the league (214), while only City (27.0) have a higher open-play xG (23.5).
If Liverpool were even maintaining their relatively average performances from set-pieces last season, they would probably be in the title race again, or at least nowhere near as far away from it as they are now, still 10 points behind leaders Arsenal and seven behind third-place Aston Villa.
Up next, Liverpool welcome Leeds to Anfield. As mentioned, Daniel Farke’s men clinched a 3-3 draw against Liverpool earlier this month with a 96th-minute equaliser from a corner, and have been excellent from set-pieces this season. Only Manchester United (13) have scored more goals from non-penalty set-pieces than Leeds (12) this season in the Premier League.
Funnily enough, Liverpool have scored the most non-pen set-pieces in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League this season (5), and haven’t conceded any. That’s obviously from a smaller sample of six games, but it suggests their struggles are more about dealing with the more relentless set-piece focus in the Premier League this season, while also just suffering from being less efficient at both ends domestically.
It could start to even itself out eventually, but there is no question things need to be worked on by Slot and set-piece coach Aaron Briggs over the coming weeks. It has been a huge factor in tripping Liverpool up this season, and even going back to being average from set-pieces should go a long way to solving their ills.
As New Year’s resolutions go, it’s at least a clear one.
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