Incredibly, Liverpool now hold the record for the most consecutive goals from set-pieces in Premier League history after a further three against West Ham.
Liverpool’s inability to defend or score from set-pieces became the unwanted theme of the season, with the club parting ways with coach Aaron Briggs in December due to the failures.
As of December 30, no team had conceded more goals from a set piece, excluding penalties, in the Premier League or Europe’s top five leagues than Liverpool, having leaked 12 in 18 games.
Since then, however, Liverpool have conceded just two in 10 league games and scored nine of their own for a complete turnaround.
Liverpool’s Set-Piece Turnaround: A quick look
Period Goals Conceded Goals Scored
First 18 Games (Aug – Dec 2025) 12 3
Last 10 Games (Jan – Mar 2026) 2 9
*Premier League non-penalty set-pieces.
That alone is quite impressive considering how hopeless Arne Slot‘s side looked when defending and attacking set plays, but a more astounding stat emerged from the 5-2 win over West Ham.
As per Opta‘s Michael Reid, Liverpool put together a run of seven consecutive Premier League goals from non-penalty set-pieces, which is the longest run in the competition’s history.
Mikel Arteta ought to be fuming!
The run started with Ibrahima Konate‘s goal from a corner against Newcastle, and then followed with Dominik Szoboszlai‘s free-kick against Man City, swiftly followed by Virgil van Dijk‘s corner at Sunderland.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, February 28, 2026: Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike scores the first goal during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and West Ham United FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Alexis Mac Allister‘s last-gasp goal at Nottingham Forest came from a throw-in, which is credited even if it was not direct, plus the first three against West Ham were all set-plays.
The unexpected run ended when Cody Gakpo scored from open play for Liverpool’s fourth of the afternoon against the Hammers, with an own goal from regular play then wrapping up the scoring.
It marks an important turnaround for Liverpool in a season which has been defined by set-piece success, and the hope is that it will continue as they strive to finish in a Champions League qualification spot.
What Arne Slot has said about Liverpool’s set-pieces
When asked about Liverpool’s set-piece success of late and what had changed, Slot insisted that only “one or two small details have changed.”
He said: “Things went back to normal, mainly, because I just said that we’ve created quite a lot of chances in the first half of the season that constantly did not go in, or too many times did not go in with being unlucky.
“We were a lot of times very close. And even today we conceded the set-piece, they scored one and they could have scored a second one in the first half – that would have been the first one, but you know what I mean.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, February 28, 2026: Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk scores the second goal during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and West Ham United FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
“Maybe one or two small details have changed defensively and offensively, I think we are set up slightly, slightly different.
“But the biggest reason is that things go back to normal. There was a period of time that we were 23 goals behind Arsenal in set-pieces, including penalties, by the way.
“And we’re still not only three goals away from them but we’ve closed the gap a little bit.
“Although you never know what can happen this weekend with Arsenal because I wouldn’t be surprised if they scored three from set-pieces this weekend as well.”