We delve into our extensive corner-kick data to see which teams and players have performed best and worst in the Premier League this season.
The 2024-25 Premier League season has seen just 21 goals scored from its 758 corners, meaning a lower proportion of corners have led to goals (2.8%) than in any other season in the last 10 years.
After last season had seen a high of 4.2% of corners lead to goals in the first passage of play after it had been taken, the drop-off this season is big enough that it could be considered noteworthy.
But we’re only seven matchdays into the season, so we’re not going to start making sweeping conclusions about the drop in quality of set-pieces in the Premier League or the improvement in defending them (but don’t be surprised to find us looking into the issue in a few weeks’ time if the trend continues).
Instead, we’re here to take a look at which teams have been particularly effective at corners this season, which teams have been less so, and which players have contributed most at both ends of the pitch.
We might be seeing fewer corners result in goals this season, but they’re still important, and one team is scoring them at particularly important moments…
Arsenal Leading the Way… in Every Way
Some football purists would consider themselves above putting too much work into corners, but Arsenal have made them cool again.
With so much success from corner kicks last season, when they scored at least four more goals from corners (16) than any other team, Arsenal have shown the value in putting time, effort and resources into set-pieces. They have been the best-performing team when it comes to attacking corners this season, too, with more goals from corners (3) than any other team in the Premier League.
Arsenal’s three goals this season have come in huge moments – the winner in the north London derby, the goal to put them ahead against Manchester City at the Etihad, and the 93rd-minute winner against Leicester City – but it’s not as if they have just got fortunate at key times. They have had the most shots following corners (27) in the top flight this season, and have the highest expected goals (3.4 xG) from such situations. They also have the highest xG per corner of all teams, with 0.067 xG on average from each one.
Mike Arteta’s side have become known for favouring inswinging corners, and they have stuck to that tactic this season. They have crossed 47 of their 50 corners in 2024-25, and not one of those has been an outswinger. Plenty of other teams prefer inswingers, but nobody favours them as much as Arsenal.
They also like to crowd the area close to goal more than any other side, with an average of 3.8 players inside the six-yard box at each of their corners – the highest rate in the Premier League. Almost all of their corners are aimed into the area close to goal, presumably with the aim of putting the opposition goalkeeper under as much pressure as possible.
Arguably the most impressive aspect of Arsenal’s corners, however, is how efficient they are with their chances when they do create a goalscoring opportunity. Just 14 of their 47 crossed corners have found an Arsenal player (29.8%); 12 of those have been shots and three led directly to goals.
Two of Arsenal’s three goals at corners have come from the first contact – Gabriel Magalhães headers vs Tottenham and Manchester City – while the third, scored against Leicester, was turned towards goal from the first contact by Leandro Trossard before Wilfred Ndidi inadvertently put the ball into his own net. As a result of Ndidi’s crucial touch, that one doesn’t count as a goal from the first contact following a corner.
Leicester also deserve a mention for being so efficient at attacking corners. They have had fewer corners than any other team in the Premier League this season (16), yet only Arsenal have scored more goals from corners than Steve Cooper’s side (2), despite them having created chances worth just 0.74 xG at corners. Ipswich have themselves scored twice from 38 corners despite an even lower xG total than Leicester (0.63). For those promoted sides, set-pieces could be crucial, and they appear to be taking their chances well.
Manchester City are one of six teams level in second behind Arsenal with two goals from corner situations, but they’re worth mentioning because they have taken the highest proportion of their corners short in the Premier League this season, with 46.6%. NEWSFLASH: short corners aren’t inherently worse.
Manchester United, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest are also level on two goals from corner situations.
The Least Efficient Teams
At the other end of the league in terms of effectiveness, there are seven teams yet to score a single goal from a corner situation in the Premier League this season: Everton, Fulham, West Ham, Wolves, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Southampton.
There are a few different ways to view these teams’ corner-kick numbers, and therefore more than one way to consider which team is the least efficient or effective.
For example, Everton have had only 22 corners, the second-fewest in the league ahead of Leicester (16), but there are only two teams for whom a higher proportion of their corners have led to shots than their 50%. And they rank eighth in the league for xG following corners, with 1.24. Their xG per corner of 0.056 is the third-highest of all top-flight teams.
So, in the sense that they create lots of chances from few corners, and yet still haven’t found the net once, Sean Dyche’s side could be called the most inefficient.
Then there’s Bournemouth, who have had the fifth-most corner kicks in the Premier League this season (48), yet they have had just 16 shots following corners and are yet to score a goal from chances worth 1.59 xG.
Only three teams have had more shots from corner situations this season than Fulham (20), but Marco Silva’s side still haven’t scored from one. They have taken a higher proportion of their corners as outswingers (61.8%) than any other team in the league, so given Arsenal’s success with the opposite tactic, maybe that would be a good place for Silva to start in addressing this issue?
Southampton, meanwhile, are not making the most of corners like Leicester and Ipswich, the other promoted sides mentioned above, with just six shots following their 31 corners. Their rate of 19.3% of their corners leading to a chance is by a distance the lowest in the Premier League this season. Given Southampton’s possession game isn’t exactly working for them so far, it might be an idea for them to start putting more focus on set-pieces.
Liverpool, meanwhile, might have scored a solitary goal from their corners, but they have the lowest xG per corner in the whole league, with chances worth just 0.76 xG from their 49 corners. At a rate of just 0.016 xG per corner, they are in this sense the least efficient team.
Forest the Most Defensively Sound
Half of the Premier League’s teams haven’t conceded a goal from a corner this season, but Nottingham Forest’s record stands out. They have faced 45 corners – the sixth-most in the top flight this season – but have conceded chances from those corners worth just 0.7 xG, at a league-low rate of 0.016 xG per corner. For a team that allows their opponents plenty of possession and territory, and so face a lot of defensive corners, Forest concede very few chances of any quality.
Newcastle, meanwhile, have faced even more corners (48) but only 11 of them have led to a shot. With their opponents producing a shot from just 22.9% of Newcastle’s defensive corners, they have the best record in that regard.
Brighton – perhaps surprisingly – come in just behind Newcastle here, with 23.1% of the corners they concede leading to a shot. In total, just six of the 26 corners they have conceded have led to an opposition chance, amounting to a league-low 0.53 xG. Given these numbers and the fact only Man City (21) have conceded fewer corners than Fabian Hürzeler’s side (26), it makes sense that they are one of the 10 teams yet to concede a goal; City, on the other hand, have let in one goal from the 21 corners they’ve faced.
The 10 teams yet to concede a goal from a corner this season are Newcastle, Forest, Brighton, Brentford, Ipswich, Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Liverpool.
At the other end of the scale, Wolves and Southampton have conceded the most goals from corners, each having shipped four.
The Best Individual Corner Takers
It may not surprise you to read that Bukayo Saka is streets ahead of everyone in the Premier League. With three of his corners having led to a goal, he is more effective than anyone else. Amazingly, his total amounts not only to more corners leading to goals than any other player, but it’s also more than any other team.
Saka also has more assists directly from corners this season than any other player (2), and he was denied a third when the Premier League decided that Arsenal’s third goal against Leicester was an Ndidi own goal rather than a Trossard strike. Arsenal’s total xG from corners Saka has taken this season (2.53) is also far higher than anyone else in the league.
He only takes Arsenal’s corners from the right because Arteta wants inswingers from both sides, meaning five players have taken more corners than him, and yet he leads the way for corners that produce goals. That final number is at least in part because of a player attacking his crosses who we’ll come on to in the next section.
Only two other players have seen more than one of their corners lead to a goal this season: Leif Davis and the often-criticised Christian Eriksen.
Davis’ 27 corners have produced chances worth just 0.49 xG for Ipswich, but two of their shots have been scored. Eriksen, meanwhile, who is remembered by Spurs fans in part for the rate at which he’d hit the first man at a corner, has taken 19 for Man Utd this term despite playing only 261 minutes and has had a fair bit of joy from them. He’s taking one every 13 minutes – the most often of all players in the Premier League to have played at least 90 minutes in 2024-25, so maybe it’s not all that surprising that his corners have produced two goals.
Fulham’s Andreas Pereira, meanwhile, has taken more corners than anyone else in the Premier League this season (34), and those corners have produced 20 shots, but not one of them has led to a goal.
The Most Threatening Attackers
Arsenal centre-back Gabriel has met more attacking corners that have been crossed into the box than any other player in the Premier League this season with seven, six of which have been crossed by Saka, including both of his goals. There have only been seven goals scored by anyone from the first contact following a corner in the Premier League this season, and two belong to Gabriel.
Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock, Tottenham’s Cristian Romero, Leicester’s Wout Faes, Aston Villa’s Amadou Onana and Nottingham Forest’s Chris Wood are the other five players to score from the first touch following a corner this season.
But only Gabriel has had more shots from such situations than Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz, who has had five attempts from the first contact following a crossed corner, but he’s yet to score from any of them.
Everton pair James Tarkowski and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have each met five attacking corners – or 22.7% of their 22 corners, which is the highest proportion of any team’s total corners met by anyone in the Premier League this season.
The Most Effective Defenders
Scoring goals at corners is obviously important, but keeping the ball out of your own net is just as crucial. Ipswich’s Jacob Greaves, Southampton’s Yukinari Sugawara and Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen lead the way for winning the first contact at the most defensive corners this season, with seven apiece.
Arsenal forward Kai Havertz’s numbers are arguably more impressive, though, given he has won the first contact at the highest proportion of defensive corners faced, with 20.7%. In other words, he alone makes a clearance at one in every five defensive corners.
When we last looked at these numbers in August 2023 – just after Havertz had signed for Arsenal – we highlighted the Germany international’s ability at defensive corners as part of the reason they had spent big on him. He has continued to show his use in helping to clear set-pieces throughout his time in north London.
So, there you have it. A comprehensive guide to how well each Premier League team is using corners. Those who haven’t had much luck so far might want to buck their ideas up, and bring the overall number of corners leading to goals up to its usual level.
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