The 2026-27 Premier League season has kicked off, so we’re back with our weekly column of knee-jerk reactions. Here are six early conclusions we’ve come to from across the first weekend of action in the new campaign.
Here at Opta Analyst, we like to take our time over things. We like to use a lot of data to back up our findings. Most of the time, anyway.
In this weekly column of knee-jerk reactions, however, we don’t do things in our usual way. Instead, we look over the weekend’s results and make some, well, knee-jerk reactions based on this week alone.
The thing is, a deeper look into the data often shows that there might be good reason to come to these hastily made judgements. Sometimes, though, they are exactly what they claim to be: knee-jerk.
There is still one game left in the matchday, with Fulham hosting Chelsea on Monday night, but here are six knee-jerk reactions from the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.
It Looks Like Another Season of Set-Piece Power
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.
The opening weekend of the new season saw seven goals scored from non-penalty set-piece situations. So, that doesn’t include Nobel Mendy after a fantastic free-kick delivery from Regan Slater.
Keith Andrews’ Brentford have also been one of the most threatening teams from set-pieces since he took over in the summer of 2025.
That continued on MD1 of the new season, with the Bees attempting 13 shots following a set-play – 12 excluding Igor Thiago’s unsuccessful penalty.
Much of their threat in 2025-26 came from long throws, with six goals resulting from that method, but Anton Stach scoring. It was the first day of Premier League action to see two direct free-kicks scored since 24 January, while Stach continues to forge a reputation as one of the most feared free-kick takers in the league. He’s now scored four goals direct from free-kicks since the start of last season, the joint most in the league alongside Szoboszlai.
Are we set for another season of squeezing every advantage possible from set-pieces? You bet.
Erling Haaland is the Modern-Day Samson
In shocking scenes that nobody expected,
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