Why Aren’t Arsenal Scoring Any Corners? ...Middle East

Arsenal broke the Premier League record for goals from corners last season, but seven games into their title defence, they haven’t scored from a single one yet in 2026-27. What’s going wrong for the set-piece specialists?

By now, we all know the story of Arsenal’s first Premier League title in 22 years.

It was a success built not on a fierce, free-flowing attack, but on an exceptional defence, the deepest squad in the division, and an ability to master the fine margins of football better than anyone else.

Nowhere was that more evident than at set-pieces.

Arsenal exploited corners to devastating effect in 2025-26. They broke the record for the number of goals scored from corners in a single Premier League season with 19, and their 26.8% of goals coming from corners was comfortably the highest share of any Premier League champion.

Even with referees paying closer attention to grappling and blocking at corners this season, the expectation was that Arsenal would continue to lean heavily into their set-piece strength. Why wouldn’t they?

But that hasn’t transpired. We’re seven league games into the new campaign, and Arsenal haven’t scored a single goal from a corner. In fact, across all competitions, they haven’t scored from any non-penalty set-piece at all.

At the same stage of last season, they’d already scored six goals from corners in the league alone.

So, what’s going on? Are ‘Set-Piece FC’ suddenly… bad at set-pieces? Or is there another explanation?

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Arsenal’s Corners Really Have Become Less Threatening

Let’s just check the premise. Given we’re only seven games into the season, goals alone don’t necessarily tell us the full story as to how effective Arsenal’s corners have been. For a better look under the hood, we can turn to our old friend expected goals (xG).

Last season, Arsenal led the Premier League for total xG generated from corners, with 13.8. That worked out at 0.36 xG per game, at an average of 0.064 xG per corner.

Put another way, when Arsenal took a corner, there was a 6.4% chance that it would result in a goal, the second-best value of any team. Arsenal slightly overperformed in reality, scoring from 8.8% of all their corners – the highest rate of any team.

This season, though, things have changed.

Arsenal are generating just 0.22 xG per game from corners, at an average of 0.047 xG per corner. They’ve fallen from the second-most dangerous team per corner to the ninth.

A drop from 0.064 to 0.047 might not sound particularly dramatic, but it represents a 26.6% reduction in the average quality of chances they’re generating per corner.

And it’s not just the quality of chances that has declined. Arsenal are also generating fewer shots from corners, down from 2.8 per game last season, the second-highest figure in the league, to 2.1 this season, the ninth highest.

Before we get into trying to work out why, it’s worth saying that Arsenal have still generated 1.55 xG from corners this season. That’s the seventh-highest total in the Premier League and suggests they could reasonably have expected to score at least once. In fact, only Liverpool (-2.05) have underperformed their corner xG by a greater margin than Arsenal (-1.55).

Have Arsenal Changed Their Corner Routines?

So, what’s with the drop-off? Has Arsenal’s approach changed?

The answer, broadly speaking, is no.

In 2025-26, Arsenal crossed the ball into the penalty area from 86.6% of their corners, opting to go short on 13.0% of occasions.

This season, those shares haven’t changed much. They’re crossing from 84.9% of corners and playing short from the remaining 15.1%.

And when they do cross, they’re sticking firmly to a tried-and-tested method. Arsenal have long been the Premier League’s biggest proponents of the inswinging corner. Last season, 96.3% of all their crossed corners were inswingers.

This season? That figure is at 100%. So, it looks like they’re doubling down on the approach that has brought them so much success.

So, if the strategy hasn’t changed, perhaps the problem lies in how Arsenal are executing it…

Corners Are Finding Arsenal Players More Often, Not Less

Are Arsenal’s corner takers just not finding their targets? Is that why they’re less threatening?

It’s the opposite, strangely. Last season, Arsenal players made first contact with 28.3% of their crossed corners, a relatively modest success rate that ranked 12th in the Premier League.

This season, that figure has climbed to 42.9%, the second-highest proportion of any team. Arsenal are getting on the end of corners a lot more often than they were last season.

That suggests the problem isn’t necessarily getting the first contact on deliveries. It’s what happens when they do.

That brings us to two potentially important changes: who’s making those contacts, and where in the box they are happening.

Different Players Are Getting on the End of Corners

One significant difference between this season and last is the personnel available to attack Arsenal’s deliveries.

Gabriel Magalhães, who led the team with 10.

With Timber out for much of this season, the distribution of those first contacts is different.

Ben White, who has replaced Timber, has not got his head to a single corner – although in fairness, he often plays more of a blocking/disrupting role.

Another thing impacting their effectiveness is where in the box they are meeting their corners.

Arsenal’s Corners Are Ending Up in Different Areas

While Arsenal’s general approach at corners has remained the same, there’s a slight difference in where their deliveries are ending up. Last season, Arsenal were particularly effective at attacking the central areas of the six-yard box, using inswinging deliveries to create chaos in front of goal and crowd the opposition goalkeeper.

This season, there’s been a drop in that, and an increase in near-post deliveries.

The map below compares their corner end locations last season versus this one. The share of corners ending in that dangerous central area of the six-yard box has fallen by 7.7%, while the proportion reaching the near-post area has increased by 7.8%

On some occasions, the difference appears to be down to the delivery itself. Arsenal’s corners are often whipped in hard and relatively flat, meaning any small error in execution can mean the corner hits the first man at the near post.

But on other occasions, the near-post delivery looks deliberate.

Arsenal appear to be using more routines in which a player darts towards the front post, attempting to flick the ball on. There are four examples below, including two from a single game against Nottingham Forest.

When it works, a well-directed flick can redirect the ball into dangerous areas before defenders have time to react. But it’s also more hit and miss. Arsenal are effectively relying on two contacts – the flick and then the shot – to make it effective, rather than just one.

Given Premier League referees have been told to take a stricter stance on blocking and grappling, it could be an attempt to recreate their familiar six-yard-box chaos through a slightly different route.

Have the New Refereeing Guidelines Made Corners Less Effective?

This season, Premier League referees have been instructed to pay closer attention to holding, grappling and blocking at corners, trying to prevent players from gaining an unfair advantage by impeding opponents.

Referees have taken that to heart. The proportion of corners resulting in free-kicks for defending teams has risen to 4.0%, its highest level across the last seven seasons.

And in general, corners have been far less fruitful this season compared to last. They’ve accounted for just 20 of the 203 Premier League goals scored so far this season (9.8%). Last season, 188 of 1,045 goals came from corners (18.0%).

In other words, the proportion of Premier League goals originating from corners has almost halved.

The new guidelines won’t explain the entire decline, but they may well be having an impact.

Arsenal themselves have only been penalised once for committing an attacking foul at a corner this season. Seven teams have conceded more such free-kicks.

But that doesn’t mean the new guidance hasn’t affected them. The numbers can tell us how often Arsenal are penalised, but they won’t show us the actions players do not make. Visually, there appears to be less of the aggressive goalkeeper-crowding that became such a recognisable feature of Arsenal’s set-piece routines.

Perhaps Arsenal Just Don’t Need Corners as Much Anymore

All of this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Arsenal haven’t exactly been suffering in the results column without their set-piece goals. They’ve won all but one of their Premier League matches this season, sit just three points off the top of the table and remain favourites to retain the title.

While their threat from corners has declined, their attacking threat from open play has improved.

Last season, Arsenal averaged 1.06 xG per game from open play. This season, that figure has risen to 1.24. That’s an increase of roughly 17%, suggesting Arsenal are creating better chances from open play than they were during their title-winning campaign.

There is also a sense that set-pieces have become less of a focus for Arsenal to crack open the opposition. They’ve not stopped crossing the ball into the box for corners, but one area they’ve completely changed is long throws into the box.

Last season, Arsenal launched an average of 1.5 long throws into the opposition penalty area per game, another example of their willingness to turn almost any restart into an attacking opportunity. This season, they’ve attempted just two across their opening seven league matches.

That’s a hefty reduction, and perhaps another indication that Arsenal are less focused on manufacturing chances through dead-ball situations.

Should Arsenal Be Worried?

Arsenal have certainly been less threatening from corners this season, but the total lack of goals is a little misleading given they have created enough chances to reasonably get themselves at least one goal.

It’s also worth remembering that Arsenal’s decline is part of a wider Premier League trend, rather than just a problem they have.

Far more importantly, they’re more threatening from open play and are still producing the results that keep them firm title favourites.

For a team that spent much of last season being criticised for relying too heavily on corners, that’s hardly the worst trade-off.

Given their underlying numbers, it would be surprising if Arsenal’s corner drought continued for much longer. If they can rediscover last season’s set-piece danger through new routines while retaining their improved open-play threat, then, well, the rest of the league might have an even bigger problem on its hands.

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Why Aren’t Arsenal Scoring Any Corners? Opta Analyst.

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