Premier League Stats Review: Gameweek 8 Set Pieces

Premier League Stats Review: Gameweek 8 Set Pieces

This article is part of our Premier League Stats Review series.

We're eight gameweeks into the season and our corner-kick leaders are Youri Tielemans, Andrew Robertson, James Ward-Prowse, Ross Barkley and Kalvin Phillips, which is just who we expected before the season started, right?

Ward-Prowse was certainly among the expected leaders, and Phillips was probably in the conversation, but Tielemans, Robertson and Barkley were probably not on the preseason radar in terms of total free kicks. Tielemans' responsibilities were a result of James Maddison's injury issues, while Robertson was sharing opportunities with Trent Alexander-Arnold last season, though his volume is still a bit surprising. And, of course, there's Barkley, who didn't even play for Aston Villa until the third gameweek of this season.

After missing West Brom's match against Tottenham last week due to a positive COVID-19 test, Matheus Pereira is no longer the league leader in free-kick share, as Southampton's James Ward-Prowse is now the only player above 65 percent. Ward-Prowse stood over all eight of Southampton's dead balls against Newcastle, giving him an 82.61 percent share of their set pieces for the season. After having 11 players last week account for at least 50 percent of their teams' free kicks, that number dipped to eight after Gameweek 8, with Bruno Fernandes, Aaron Cresswell, Kevin De Bruyne, Pedro Neto and Ashley Westwood joining Ward-Prowse, Pereira and Tielemans in that group.

Cumulative season stats don't give us as much direction as more recent events, so we can also use our player stats page to see who has taken the most free kicks over the past three gameweeks. To do so, just adjust the gameweeks from one through eight to six through eight and we get the specific data. Combining the two leaves us with the table below, which still shows the guys we expect at the top, though there are some interesting outliers we should start thinking more about like Sean Longstaff and ... I can't believe I'm saying this ... Gylfi Sigurdsson. The latter is likely to become an afterthought when Richarlison returns from suspension, though he's also played in the midfield recently, which could keep him on when Richarlison is back. Here's the Everton set-piece trend, which is pulled directly from Sigurdsson's player page on RotoWire:

Note: free kicks are defined as corners taken, free kick crosses and free kick shots.

All columns are sortable

  Full SeasonGameweeks 6-8
Player Name

Team

Team

FKs

Player

FKs

% of 

Team FKs

Team

FKs

Player

FKs

% of Team

FKs

James Ward-Prowse

SOU

46

38

82.61%

18

17

94.44%

Matheus Pereira

WBA

48

31

64.58%

18

5

27.78%

Youri Tielemans

LEI

56

36

64.29%

15

2

13.33%

Bruno Fernandes

MUN

50

30

60.00%

23

14

60.87%

Aaron Cresswell

WHU

51

29

56.86%

17

11

64.71%

Kevin De Bruyne

MCI

54

30

55.56%

22

12

54.55%

Pedro Neto

WOL

47

26

55.32%

18

13

72.22%

Ashley Westwood

BRN

46

23

50.00%

14

6

42.86%

Andrew Robertson

LIV

67

32

47.76%

17

6

35.29%

Andros Townsend

CRY

56

26

46.43%

20

4

20.00%

Son Heung-Min

TOT

54

25

46.30%

22

9

40.91%

Kalvin Phillips

LEE

66

30

45.45%

28

-

-

Jonjo Shelvey

NEW

44

20

45.45%

14

-

-

James Rodriguez

EVE

58

26

44.83%

23

6

26.09%

Trent Alexander-Arnold

LIV

67

30

44.78%

17

9

52.94%

Willian

ARS

43

19

44.19%

18

6

33.33%

Ross Barkley

AVL

66

28

42.42%

30

25

83.33%

Dwight McNeil

BRN

46

19

41.30%

14

7

50.00%

Tom Cairney

FUL

49

17

34.69%

20

11

55.00%

Oliver Norwood

SHU

52

18

34.62%

16

6

37.50%

Ben Chilwell

CHE

53

17

32.08%

22

5

22.73%

Solomon March

BHA

57

18

31.58%

19

3

15.79%

Pascal Gross

BHA

57

18

31.58%

19

12

63.16%

Jarrod Bowen

WHU

51

16

31.37%

17

5

29.41%

John Lundstram

SHU

52

15

28.85%

16

4

25.00%

James Maddison

LEI

56

16

28.57%

15

10

66.67%

Nicolas Pepe

ARS

43

12

27.91%

18

3

16.67%

Lucas Digne

EVE

58

16

27.59%

23

3

13.04%

Gylfi Sigurdsson

EVE

58

16

27.59%

23

14

60.87%

Riyad Mahrez

MCI

54

14

25.93%

22

6

27.27%

Luka Milivojevic

CRY

56

14

25.00%

20

11

55.00%

Mason Mount

CHE

53

13

24.53%

22

9

40.91%

Mateusz Klich

LEE

66

16

24.24%

28

15

53.57%

Leandro Trossard

BHA

57

13

22.81%

19

3

15.79%

Conor Hourihane

AVL

66

15

22.73%

30

0

0.00%

Joao Moutinho

WOL

47

10

21.28%

18

0

0.00%

Reece James

CHE

53

11

20.75%

22

2

9.09%

Luke Shaw

MUN

50

10

20.00%

23

4

17.39%

Ben Osborn

SHU

52

10

19.23%

16

4

25.00%

Filip Krovinovic

WBA

48

9

18.75%

18

9

50.00%

Ivan Cavaleiro

FUL

49

9

18.37%

20

0

0.00%

Ademola Lookman

FUL

49

9

18.37%

20

8

40.00%

Joe Bryan

FUL

49

9

18.37%

20

0

0.00%

Sean Longstaff

NEW

44

8

18.18%

14

8

57.14%

Ryan Fraser

NEW

44

8

18.18%

14

4

28.57%

Eberechi Eze

CRY

56

10

17.86%

20

4

20.00%

Ryan Bertrand

SOU

46

8

17.39%

18

1

5.56%

Jack Harrison

LEE

66

11

16.67%

28

8

28.57%

Erik Lamela

TOT

54

9

16.67%

22

5

22.73%

Hakim Ziyech

CHE

53

8

15.09%

22

6

27.27%

Juan Mata

MUN

50

7

14.00%

23

4

17.39%

Jack Grealish

AVL

66

9

13.64%

30

5

16.67%

John McGinn

AVL

66

9

13.64%

30

0

0.00%

John Fleck

SHU

52

7

13.46%

16

-

-

Giovani Lo Celso

TOT

54

7

12.96%

22

2

9.09%

Daniel Podence

WOL

47

6

12.77%

18

3

16.67%

Dani Ceballos

ARS

43

5

11.63%

18

4

22.22%

Ilkay Gundogan

MCI

54

6

11.11%

22

4

18.18%

Gareth Bale

TOT

54

6

11.11%

22

4

18.18%

Matthew Phillips

WBA

48

5

10.42%

18

3

16.67%

Bukayo Saka

ARS

43

4

9.30%

18

4

22.22%

Matt Ritchie

NEW

44

4

9.09%

14

-

-

James McCarthy

CRY

56

5

8.93%

20

0

0.00%

Josh Brownhill

BRN

46

3

6.52%

14

1

7.14%

Ruben Neves

WOL

47

3

6.38%

18

1

5.56%

Grady Diangana

WBA

48

3

6.25%

18

1

5.56%

Neeskens Kebano

FUL

49

3

6.12%

20

0

0.00%

Matt Targett

AVL

66

4

6.06%

30

0

0.00%

Pablo Hernandez

LEE

66

4

6.06%

28

3

10.71%

Andriy Yarmolenko

WHU

51

3

5.88%

17

0

0.00%

Sergio Reguilon

TOT

54

3

5.56%

22

0

0.00%

Marc Albrighton

LEI

56

3

5.36%

15

3

20.00%

Adam Lallana

BHA

57

3

5.26%

19

0

0.00%

Granit Xhaka

ARS

43

2

4.65%

18

1

5.56%

Jacob Murphy

NEW

44

2

4.55%

14

2

14.29%

James Milner

LIV

67

3

4.48%

17

1

5.88%

Aleksandar Mitrovic

FUL

49

2

4.08%

20

1

5.00%

Mason Greenwood

MUN

50

2

4.00%

23

0

0.00%

Sander Berge

SHU

52

2

3.85%

16

2

12.50%

Phil Foden

MCI

54

2

3.70%

22

0

0.00%

Steven Bergwijn

TOT

54

2

3.70%

22

-

-

Alexis Mac Allister

BHA

57

2

3.51%

19

0

0.00%

Patrick Bamford

LEE

66

2

3.03%

28

0

0.00%

Raphinha

LEE

66

2

3.03%

28

1

3.57%

David Luiz

ARS

43

1

2.33%

18

0

0.00%

Jeff Hendrick

NEW

44

1

2.27%

14

0

0.00%

Miguel Almiron

NEW

44

1

2.27%

14

0

0.00%

Johann Berg Gudmundsson

BRN

46

1

2.17%

14

0

0.00%

Nelson Semedo

WOL

47

1

2.13%

18

1

5.56%

Vitinha

WOL

47

1

2.13%

18

-

-

Marcus Rashford

MUN

50

1

2.00%

23

1

4.35%

Declan Rice

WHU

51

1

1.96%

17

0

0.00%

Vladimir Coufal

WHU

51

1

1.96%

17

1

5.88%

Mark Noble

WHU

51

1

1.96%

17

0

0.00%

Timo Werner

CHE

53

1

1.89%

22

0

0.00%

Kai Havertz

CHE

53

1

1.89%

22

0

0.00%

Marcos Alonso

CHE

53

1

1.89%

22

-

-

Callum Hudson-Odoi

CHE

53

1

1.89%

22

0

0.00%

Harry Kane

TOT

54

1

1.85%

22

1

4.55%

Raheem Sterling

MCI

54

1

1.85%

22

0

0.00%

Ben Davies

TOT

54

1

1.85%

22

1

4.55%

Bernardo Silva

MCI

54

1

1.85%

22

0

0.00%

Patrick van Aanholt

CRY

56

1

1.79%

20

1

5.00%

Cengiz Under

LEI

56

1

1.79%

15

0

0.00%

Yves Bissouma

BHA

57

1

1.75%

19

1

5.26%

Lewis Dunk

BHA

57

1

1.75%

19

-

-

Joel Veltman

BHA

57

1

1.75%

19

0

0.00%

Rodrigo

LEE

66

1

1.52%

28

1

3.57%

Bertrand Traore

AVL

66

1

1.52%

30

0

0.00%

Roberto Firmino

LIV

67

1

1.49%

17

0

0.00%

Xherdan Shaqiri

LIV

67

1

1.49%

17

1

5.88%

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Andrew M. Laird plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: kingmorland, DraftKings: andrewmlaird, Yahoo: Lairdinho.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew M. Laird
Andrew is a former RotoWire contributor. He was the 2017 and 2018 FSWA Soccer Writer of the Year. He is a nine-time FSWA award finalist, including twice for Football Writer of the Year.
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