With new football seasons across Europe’s top 5 domestic leagues about to get underway, I thought it would be good to cast an eye towards the specialists who will be responsible for dead ball attacking output throughout the campaign.
Penalty practice sessions and football mannequins will have been utilised to the point of exhaustion during pre season, so it’s going to be very exciting to find out which teams will benefit the most from these aspects of training.
Using information such as events gathered from matches played last season, statistics, pre-season games as well as current and expected roles at teams, I’ve put together a well researched list of players who take free kicks, corners and penalties for the teams competing in the world’s most watched football league.
Here it is…
Premier League competition set piece takers list
| Club | Penalties (Main) | Penalties (Alternate) | Free Kicks (Main) | Free Kicks (Alternate 1) | Free Kicks (Alternate 2) | Corners (Main) | Corners (Alternate 1) | Corners (Alternate 2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester United | Cristiano Ronaldo | Bruno Fernandes | Cristiano Ronaldo | Bruno Fernandes | Christian Eriksen | Luke Shaw | Bruno Fernandes | Christian Eriksen |
| Manchester City | Riyad Mahrez | Kevin De Bruyne | Kevin De Bruyne | Riyad Mahrez | Bernardo Silva | Kevin De Bruyne | Phil Foden | Riyad Mahrez |
| Leeds United | Patrick Bamford | Mateusz Klich | Adam Forshaw | TBC | TBC | Stuart Dallas | Jack Harrison | TBC |
| Brentford | Ivan Toney | Josh Da Silva | Bryan Mbuemo | Saman Ghoddos | Sergi Canos | Mathias Jensen | Bryan Mbuemo | Vitaly Janelt |
| Brighton | Pascal Groß | Alexis Mac Allister | Alexis Mac Allister | Jakub Moder | Leandro Trossard | Alexis Mac Aliister | Pascal Groß | Solly March |
| Bournemouth | Dominic Solanke | Junior Stanislas | Phillip Billing | Junior Stanislas | Ryan Christie | Jaidon Anthony | Ryan Christie | Junior Stanislas |
| Fulham | Aleksandar Mitrović | Harry Wilson | Harry Wilson | Andreas Perieira | Neeskens Kebano | Harry Wilson | Harrison Reed | Andreas Pereira |
| Aston Villa | Danny Ings | Phillipe Coutinho | Phillipe Coutinho | Douglas Luiz | Leon Bailey | Lucas Digne | Douglas Luiz | Phillipe Coutinho |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Harry Kane | Son Heung-min | Harry Kane | Son Heung-min | Eric Dier | Son Heung-min | Dejan Kulusevski | TBC |
| Leicester City | Jamie Vardy | Youri Tielemans | James Maddison | Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall | Youri Tielemans | James Maddison | Marc Albrighton | Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall |
| Nottingham Forest | Brennan Johnson | TBC | Brennan Johnson | Cafú | TBC | Brennan Johnson | Cafú | Jack Colback |
| Crystal Palace | Wilfried Zaha | Luka Milivojević | Luka Milivojević | Michael Olise | Eberechi Eze | Eberechi Eze | Michael Olise | Luka Milivojević |
| Chelsea | Jorginho | Mason Mount | Reece James | Mason Mount | Marcos Alonso | Mason Mount | Reece James | Ben Chilwell |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | Raúl Jiménez | Ruben Neves | Ruben Neves | João Moutinho | Pedro Neto | João Moutinho | Pedro Neto | Rayan Aït-Nouri |
| Newcastle United | Callum Wilson | Chris Wood | Kieran Trippier | Fabian Schär | Jonjo Shelvey | Kieran Trippier | Ryan Fraser | Matt Targett |
| Everton | Dominic Calvert Lewin | Andros Townsend | Anthony Gordon | Demarai Gray | Andros Townsend | Anthony Gordon | Demarai Gray | Andros Townsend |
| West Ham United | Manuel Lanzini | Michail Antonio | Aaron Cresswell | Said Benrahma | Jarrod Bowen | Pablo Fornals | Jarrod Bowen | Aaron Cresswell |
| Liverpool | James Milner | Mohamed Salah | Trent Alexander Arnold | Fabinho | Jordan Henderson | Trent Alexander Arnold | Andrew Robertson | James Milner |
| Southampton | James Ward Prowse | Adam Armstrong | James Ward Prowse | Adam Armstrong | Nathan Redmond | Ward Prowse | Stuart Armstrong | TBC |
| Arsenal | Bukayo Saka | Gabriel Martinelli | Martin Ødegaard | Bukayo Saka | Granit Xhaka | Bukayo Saka | Martin Ødegaard | Gabriel Martinelli |
Set piece takers from the Premier League’s newly promoted teams
From the table above I’m sure you can see three new team additions.
This is because last seasons bottom three teams were relegated to the league below – the EFL Championship.
Coming in their place were the three promoted teams from the aforementioned league, who I’ll now talk a bit about in turn…
Bournemouth
Bournemouth are back in England’s top division after managing to finish 2nd in the EFL Championship last season (i.e. 2021/2022).
There are quite a couple of new faces in the side, as it’s only the likes of players such as Junior Stanislas, Phillip Billing, Jefferson Lerma and Dominic Solanke that people are likely to remember from the team that got relegated when they were in the Premier League last time.
Solanke has emerged as the talisman for the club and he’ll be expected to lead the line well this campaign.
He will take up primary spot kick duty, with Junior Stanislas deputising for him in case of any unavailability.
Nottingham Forest
Here we have the wildcard team.
Nobody really knows what Nottingham Forest are going to be able to produce in the Premier League, because they haven’t been in the division for several seasons.
Their top striker Lewis Grabban left the club, which leaves Brennan Johnson as their main penalty taker.
But they’ve made a strong addition in the goalkeeping department, nabbing Manchester United’s Dean Henderson on loan for the campaign.
Fulham
London club Fulham are also back in the Premier League this season.
A lot of fans see them as a welcome addition back into England’s top division, as their Craven Cottage stadium ground is a sight to behold and offers a fantastic match day experience for travelling fans.
Anyway, Aleksandar Mitrović will be looking to hit the ground running with goals this year, because he’s generally struggled to find the back of the net in the Premier League.
The Serbian forward netted an all-time Championship record 43 goals last season, so he’ll want to pick up right where he left off if Fulham are to have any chance of survival this term.
Harry Wilson and Andreas Pereira should be good for the bulk of the set pieces, and with their quality at free kick and corner delivery, Fulham should be one of the sides who score quite a few from dead ball situations.
Which team scored the most set piece goals in the 2021-22 Premier League season?
I’m fairly sure that a lot of you reading this article will be curious to know which team registered the most set piece goals in the last season.
Well, the eventual champions Manchester City topped the charts here with 21 set piece goals, followed closely behind by Liverpool who had 19 to their name.
And then Chelsea led the rest of the distant chasing pack with 11 goals here.
And when it came to penalties, Chelsea converted the most with 8 goals; a tally that Manchester City and Liverpool came close to match as they notched 7 goals from the spot respectively.
