A new Premier League season is upon us. FPL managers are busy deciding their squads, so we thought we’d assist them with their squad building. In the first of a new series, we look at how and why set-piece takers will be of the utmost importance once again in 2026-27.
Modern football is obsessed with marginal gains, and every Premier League club is looking for an edge. Increasingly, many are finding it from set pieces. More than half of the teams in the division now employ a dedicated set-piece coach, and those who don’t risk falling behind.
To help uncover the players who thrive the most in set-piece situations, we’ve teamed up with Solio Analytics, whose Fantasy Premier League platform combines Opta’s detailed football data with FPL-specific analysis to generate data-driven insights for managers.
Set-Pieces Are More Important Than Ever
Austin MacPhee, one of football’s most highly rated set-piece coaches, moved from Aston Villa to Chelsea this summer, and the language used to describe his job switch serves to highlight the growing importance attributed to this area of the game.
“The Scottish coach, 46, joins for an undisclosed release-clause fee in his contract amid competition from other Premier League and Saudi Pro League teams”, BBC Sport reported in a standalone piece that had as much in common with an article penned to announce a player transfer.
And why shouldn’t it? The data suggests that set-piece coaches can be just as impactful.
During the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, 27.4% of all goals came from non-penalty set-pieces, the second-highest proportion in the competition’s 34-season history, up from 20.6% in the previous campaign.
Goals from corners were at an all-time high too, accounting for 18% of all goals, up from 12.1% the season before.
Click Image to EnlargeIt might not be the most popular trend, but the evidence is clear: the set-piece revolution was televised.
Knowing which players take set pieces – and which players get the lion’s share of targets – has never been more important for FPL managers.
Strongest Set-Piece Teams
Let’s take a look at some of last season’s set-piece numbers with a view to identifying where FPL managers should focus their attention for the upcoming campaign.
Including corners, indirect free-kicks, direct free-kicks and throw-ins – while removing penalties – title-winners Arsenal led the way from set pieces in 2025-26.
The Gunners scored an incredible 25 non-penalty set-piece goals, while only conceding eight such goals in return, for a positive swing of 17 goals.
Surprisingly, it was Tottenham Hotspur – despite finishing one place above the relegation zone – who were the second-best team from set plays last season, with a positive swing of 10 goals.
Their set-piece coach, Andreas Georgson, joined the club alongside Thomas Frank, but has remained at Spurs despite their various managerial changes since. You could make a strong case for Georgson being the key reason Spurs aren’t currently a Championship side.
Coventry City were the standout team from set pieces in the Championship last season. With 29 non-penalty set-piece goals scored and 13 conceded, their positive swing of 16 goals would have ranked second in the Premier League last season.
It goes without saying that they will not be able to repeat those numbers in the Premier League, but it’s a notable strength of theirs, and they have by far the most potential in this regard of the three promoted teams.
Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Liverpool, with 20 non-penalty set-piece goals conceded each, allowed the most goals in this manner in the Premier League last season. Palace’s negative swing of nine goals was the worst in the division.
Interestingly, Andoni Iraola has taken his set-piece coaching staff with him from Bournemouth to Liverpool, which suggests that the Reds’ struggles in this area are unlikely to be solved quickly.
We Need to Talk About Bruno
On the player side, we have no choice but to begin with James Garner, who is right-footed, took the most corners in the Premier League last season, but only 10 of his 110 corners came from the right side.
It was his left-footed teammate Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall who instead took charge from the right, with all 43 of his corners last season coming from that side.
When it comes to which players to target, here’s who Solio currently project are most likely to take corners for each club:
Arsenal: Rice left corners, Saka right cornersAston Villa: Cash left, Digne/McGinn rightBournemouth: Scott/Kluivert left, Tavernier/Brooks rightBrentford: Jensen/Damsgaard left, Janelt/Ouattara rightBrighton: Groß/Kadıoğlu left, De Cuyper/Minteh rightChelsea: James/Fernández left, Neto/Estêvão rightCoventry: Grimes/Torp left, Grimes/Rudoni rightCrystal Palace: Yeremy/Johnson left, Wharton/Hughes rightEverton: Garner left, Dewsbury-Hall rightFulham: Lukić/Iwobi left, Lukić/Bobb rightHull: Slater/Giles left, Belloumi/Giles rightIpswich: Núñez/Clarke left, Davis/Núñez rightLeeds: Stach left, Wilson/Stach rightLiverpool: Szoboszlai/Gakpo left, Szoboszlai/Wirtz rightMan City: Cherki/Anderson left, Foden/Cherki rightMan Utd: Fernandes left, Mbeumo/Shaw rightNewcastle: Guimarães/Murphy left, Hall rightNottm Forest: Williams/Ndoye left, Hutchinson/Hudson-Odoi rightSunderland: Le Fée/Hume left, Xhaka rightTottenham: Porro/Tel left, Kudus/Porro right
With teams clearly valuing inswingers, any potential incomings could have a significant impact on the output of incumbent players. Solio take this into consideration by constantly updating and modelling set-piece hierarchies before feeding that information into projections for goals, assists and bonus points.
Anton Stach vs Harry Wilson?
Leeds United’s Dominik Szoboszlai is another player worth monitoring. Like Stach, the Hungarian often took corners from both sides of the pitch last season, sharing left-side duties with Cody Gakpo, and right-side duties with Mohamed Salah.
Given that Salah has left and Gakpo is linked with a move to Spurs, the expectation would naturally be that Szoboszlai’s corner volume will increase further, but the arrival of Iraola and his set-piece staff complicates matters.
Iraola’s Bournemouth opted for an inswinging corner more often than any other side in the Premier League last season (96.4%), narrowly ahead of Arsenal.
Solio currently regard Szoboszlai as the most likely corner taker from both sides, but their hierarchical rankings will continue to update based on any new information.
Liverpool are short on quality left-footers after Salah’s departure, so their hands may be tied, but be aware: continuity in approach from Iraola and his staff could have a genuine impact on Szoboszlai’s numbers.
He’s set to be a popular selection from the beginning in FPL regardless – he is currently in nearly half of teams – and Solio’s projections suggests he is great value at £7.0m.
Indeed, he is currently ranked sixth for projected points-per-game across the first 10 gameweeks (4.91), in line or ahead of more expensive players such as Declan Rice at Arsenal.
Indeed, Rice led all Arsenal players last season for corners (95), indirect free-kicks (130), crossed indirect free-kicks (45), direct free-kicks (5), and throw-ins into the penalty area (24).
But even Rice is fallible to the strict corner routines employed by Arsenal’s set-piece coach, Nicolas Jover. While he took 87 corners from the left, he took only eight from the right. Right-sided corners instead fell to Bukayo Saka (65) and Noni Madueke (38), who didn’t take a single left-sided corner between them.
Could the likely signing of Iliman Ndiaye, for instance, is projected to outscore the Brazilian over the first 10 gameweeks despite being £2m cheaper.
Set-Piece Receivers to Target
With all this talk of set-piece takers, let’s take a quick look at the most common beneficiaries.
It was Virgil van Dijk who stood out in this regard, scoring a league-high four goals after making the first contact on crossed corners.
Using Opta data, Solio’s tools also allow users to sort players by expected goals from set plays (excluding penalties) for last season.
Newcastle’s Malick Thiaw tops the list with 4.7 xG, followed by the departed Man Utd midfielder Casemiro (4.1), and Man City’s Marc Guéhi (3.7).
Click Image to EnlargeAs set-pieces continue to account for an ever-growing share of Premier League goals, understanding who takes them and who benefits from them is becoming just as important as tracking goals and assists. Solio’s projections can help identify where the real FPL value lies, and we’ll be diving deeper into those numbers in future editions of this series.
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FPL Set-Piece Stats: Expected Takers, Players to Target, and Projections for 2026-27 Opta Analyst.
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