Why are set-piece goals rising?

Clubs are investing in dedicated coaches and treating set pieces as a repeatable, coachable source of goals rather than a lottery.

Which clubs do it best?

Arsenal, Brentford and Nottingham Forest are among the sides who have turned dead balls into a genuine weapon.

What share of goals come from set pieces?

Roughly one in three this season, at a record high for the modern Premier League.

The set-piece era: how dead balls quietly decided the season

Alex · Football analytics writerUpdated 15 Jul 2026

The gist

Set-piece goals are at a record high in the Premier League because more clubs now employ dedicated set-piece coaches who treat corners, free-kicks and long throws as a coachable, repeatable source of goals rather than a lottery.

Key takeaways

Roughly one in three goals this season came from a set piece.
Dedicated set-piece coaches are the main driver of the trend.
A single drilled routine can be worth as much as a signing, far cheaper.

Key facts

Set-piece share: Roughly 1 in 3 goals this season
Driving it: Dedicated set-piece coaches
Biggest gainers: Arsenal, Brentford, Forest

For years, set pieces were an afterthought — a few minutes at the end of training on a Friday. That era is over.

A handful of clubs now employ full-time set-piece coaches whose only job is to engineer goals from corners, free-kicks and long throws. The results are showing up on the scoreboard: dead-ball situations account for a bigger share of goals than at any point in the modern game.

The tactics themselves have grown more deliberate: blocking runs, near-post flick-ons, and choreographed decoy movement designed to drag markers out of position. Defences are scrambling to keep up.

The lesson for everyone else is simple: a single well-drilled routine can be worth as much as a marquee signing, at a fraction of the cost.

FAQ

Why are set-piece goals rising?: Clubs are investing in dedicated coaches and treating set pieces as a repeatable, coachable source of goals rather than a lottery.
Which clubs do it best?: Arsenal, Brentford and Nottingham Forest are among the sides who have turned dead balls into a genuine weapon.
What share of goals come from set pieces?: Roughly one in three this season, at a record high for the modern Premier League.

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