Revealed: The Premier League’s best set-piece takers right now | OneFootball

It feels as though set-pieces are becoming disrespected by football fans.

Players goal tallies are often looked out without penalties, and assists only from open play. But set-pieces are a part of football, and having a specialist can be crucial.

Just look at Arsenal and their recent successes from corners. If they were to win the Premier League, you wouldn’t say it doesn’t count due to the points they’ve picked up as a result of set-pieces.

But who are the premium set-piece takers in the Premier League right now? We’ve taken a look at the corner, free-kick and penalty specialists below.

Corner specialists

For corners, we’ve looked at the accuracy of corners into the penalty area in the Premier League this season, with a minimum of 10 corners into the penalty area.

5. Youri Tielemans

Youri Tielemans has been sharing Aston Villa‘s corner taking responsibilities with Lucas Digne this season. And Aston Villa don’t waste much time with short corners.

Of the 12 corners Tielemans has taken this season, 11 have gone into the box. And the one that didn’t went to the edge of the area, still setting up a chance. Five of Tieleman’s 11 corners into the area have found a teammate, with three bringing shots and one leading to a goal.

4. Bukayo Saka

Arsenal have taken a lot of corners this season, with Bukayo Saka responsible for 25 of those. The Englishman is in charge of Arsenal’s right-sided corners, with Declan Rice on the left.

Like Tielemans, Saka hasn’t been faffing about with short corners. Only one of his 25 corners hasn’t gone into the box, with the other going to the edge of the area for a shot. Saka has been accurate with an impressive 12 of his corners into the box, with eight creating chances. Of those eight chances created, two are assists, with Saka key to Arsenal’s gameplan from set pieces.

3. Andreas Pereira

Andreas Pereira has taken more corners than any other player in the Premier League this season. He also leads the division for total corners into the box an accurate corners into the box.

The Portuguese midfielder takes (almost) all the corners for Fulham, with the rest of the team combining to take four corners to his 34. Of those 34, 31 have gone into the box, with 18 finding a teammate. While he is yet to record an assist from a corner, Pereira does have 14 chances created from corners going into the box.

2. Kevin De Bruyne

Now we have the opposite side of the corner coin. Kevin De Bruyne has taken 24 corners in the Premier League this season, both only 12 of those have gone into the box. The Belgian just as often goes short or to the edge of the area.

But of those corners that have gone into the box, De Bruyne has been pretty accurate. Seven of De Bruyne’s 12 corners into the box have found a teammate, and they’ve all resulted in a shot.

1. Dwight McNeil

Dwight McNeil is on another level. Everton aren’t a team that have had too many corners this season, with 22 in total. Of those 22, McNeil has taken 17, with Jesper Lindstrom (four) and Iliman Ndiaye (one) making up the rest.

Only one of McNeil’s 17 corners this season hasn’t gone into the box, played fairly short to the edge of the area. But of the 16 that have gone into the box, 14 have found a teammate! And of those 14, eight are chances created.

Free-kick kings

With free-kicks, we’ve taken a look at post-shot xG from direct free-kicks since the start of the 2022-23 campaign. We’ve also narrowed down to players to have scored a direct free-kick, meaning Andreas Pereira does miss out despite having a post-shot xG from direct free-kicks of 1.49.

5. James Maddison

James Maddison is one of five players to score more than one goal from a direct free-kick in the Premier League since the start of the 2022-23 campaign. Both came in the 2022-23 campaign for Leicester City, with Maddison scoring against Southampton and Nottingham Forest.

Overall Maddison has taken 17 shots from direct free-kicks since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, with the majority of those coming while with Leicester (13). But with his shots, Maddison has tested goalkeepers, boasting a post-shot xG from direct free-kicks of 1.26.

4. Lucas Digne

Lucas Digne may not be one you’d expect to see on this list. Since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, the Frenchman has taken 11 shots from direct free-kicks, scoring once.

The goal came against Manchester United in November 2022, the second in Aston Villa’s 3-1 win at Villa Park. This was in Unai Emery’s first game in charge of the Villans. Since that goal, Digne has taken 10 shots from direct free-kicks without scoring. But his post-shot xG from direct free-kicks is still an impressive 1.27.

3. Trent Alexander-Arnold

Now we move back onto the more expected names. Trent Alexander-Arnold is another player to have scored two or more direct free-kicks since the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

He’s scored one in each of the past two campaigns, so the pressure will be on to continue the streak. But those keeping track might want to wait, as Alexander-Arnold has been saving his free-kick goals for later in the campaign. Overall, the Liverpool man has taken 12 shots from direct free-kicks since the start of 2022-23, with a post-shot xG of 1.52.

2. Kieran Trippier

The Bury Beckham, Kieran Trippier has taken 16 shots from direct free-kicks since the start of the 2022-23 season. Newcastle United fans will have been picturing his free-kick against Croatia every time Trippier lined up to take a shot.

And Trippier has scored one direct free-kick goal, with a post-shot xG of 1.74. When he gets it right, Tripper really gets it right.

1. Eberechi Eze

The free-kick specialist over the past few seasons has been Eberechi Eze. The Crystal Palace man has taken 30 shots from direct free-kicks since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, with only James Ward-Prowse (34) taking more.

Eze has scored one goal from a direct free-kick in that time, netting against Tottenham earlier this year.

Penalty perfectionists

This one is pretty straightforward. We’ve ranked the best penalty takers since the start of the 2023-24 campaign, based on conversion rate with at least five penalties taken.

5. Joao Pedro

Yes, Joao Pedro is human. The Brighton man made something of a name for himself last season in scoring penalties, reliable for the Seagulls.

Across all competitions last season, Joao Pedro scored 20 goals for Brighton, with 10 of those coming from the spot. Four of those 10 were in the Premier League. But they came from five efforts. Joao Pedro missed a penalty against Aston Villa in May, though he did score the rebound.

4. Alexander Isak

Newcastle have done well for penalties takers, with both Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson in their ranks. Isak has taken most of the responsibilities since the start of last season, particularly with Wilson having injury problems.

The Swede took six penalties in the Premier League last season, scoring five. He only failed to find the net against Burnley in May. But Isak made up for it by scoring a few minutes later.

3. Erling Haaland

Yes, he is human. It’s hard to stop Erling Haaland scoring goals, and giving him an opportunity from the penalty spot isn’t advised. Since the start of last season, Haaland has scored eight goals in the Premier League, with only one player netting more.

But the Norwegian has missed one. In came in the early stages of last season, with Haaland missing a first-half effort against Sheffield United. Haaland eventually scored the game’s opening goal in the second half, making amends.

2. Bukayo Saka

Bukayo Saka has been Mr. Reliable for Arsenal from the penalty spot, just as he is from corners. The Englishman has taken six of Arsenal’s 10 Premier League penalties since the start of last season, scoring every single one.

One of those penalties came in a pressure moment too, giving Arsenal the lead in a North London Derby against Tottenham last season. There has been just one better than the Englishman.

1. Cole Palmer

Who else was it going to be? Cole Palmer has been perfect from the spot since taking the responsibilities at Chelsea.

The Englishman has scored all 10 of his spot-kicks for Chelsea in the Premier League since the start of last season. He’s also perfect across all competitions, and converted for England at Euro 2024. Palmer is cool at the pressure times, and only Yaya Toure (11) has taken more Premier League penalties without missing in the competition’s history.