Much has been said about Arsenal and corner kicks in recent weeks.
The Gunners beat Manchester United 2-0 last week with both goals coming from that particular dead ball situation, before Mikel Arteta watched his side score yet another corner in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Fulham.
That effort – prodded in by William Saliba – meant Arsenal have now scored 23 goals from corner kicks in the Premier League alone since the start of last season.
However – across the last eight Premier League games – there has actually been one side more dangerous than Arsenal from dead ball situations in terms of xG (expected goals).
Aston Villa outdoing Arsenal from set-pieces
Open Play xG Set-Piece xG
Chelsea – 1.71 Aston Villa – 0.66
Bournemouth – 1.60 Arsenal – 0.65
Manchester City – 1.51 Crystal Palace – 0.45
Liverpool – 1.44 Brentford – 0.41
Tottenham – 1.39 Nottingham Forest – 0.41
West Ham – 1.35 Manchester City – 0.39
Newcastle – 1.14 Ipswich – 0.35
Aston Villa – 1.12 Bournemouth – 0.34
Brighton – 1.10 Chelsea – 0.33
Brentford – 1.09 Liverpool – 0.33
Crystal Palace – 1.02 Brighton – 0.32
Manchester United – 0.98 West Ham – 0.30
Leicester – 0.98 Tottenham – 0.29
Wolves – 0.91 Newcastle – 0.27
Fulham – 0.89 Everton – 0.24
Everton – 0.84 Leicester – 0.24
Ipswich – 0.80 Southampton – 0.23
Arsenal – 0.79 Fulham – 0.21
Nottingham Forest – 0.76 Manchester United – 0.18
Southampton – 0.66 Wolves – 0.18
As you can see, Aston Villa are proving to generate more goalscoring opportunities from set-piece situations across the last eight Premier League games.
The Villans actually have a talented set-piece coach of their own in Austin MacPhee, who can often be seen gesticulating from the sideline like Arsenal’s very own Nicolas Jover, who Declan Rice adores.
Therefore, we could see more Premier League sides move to hire a staff member like that, as they are quite clearly providing some value to their respective clubs.
Mikel Arteta has work to do
While the right side of that table makes good reading for Arsenal, the left side does not.
Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal, looks on during the Premier League match between Fulham FC and Arsenal FC at Craven Cottage on December 08, 2024 ...
Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
As you can see, only Nottingham Forest and Southampton have proven to be less creative than Arsenal from open play across the last eight Premier League games, a concerning trend.
Of course, Arsenal deserve credit for becoming almost unstoppable from corner kicks, but the Gunners cannot solely rely on dead ball situations if they want to win the Premier League this season.
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