Arsenal's corner drought deepens as set-piece kings lose 26% of threat in title defence

Record breakers become goalless from corners after seven games

Arsenal broke the Premier League record for goals from corners last season, but seven games into their title defence they have not scored from a single one yet in 2026-27. What is going wrong for the set-piece specialists?

By now we all know the story of Arsenal’s first Premier League title in 22 years. It was a success built not on a fierce, free-flowing attack, but on an exceptional defence, the deepest squad in the division, and an ability to master the fine margins of football better than anyone else. Nowhere was that more evident than at set-pieces.

Arsenal exploited corners to devastating effect in 2025-26. They broke the record for the number of goals scored from corners in a single Premier League season with 19, and their 26.8% of goals coming from corners was comfortably the highest share of any Premier League champion.

xG tells the story behind the goal drought

Even with referees paying closer attention to grappling and blocking at corners this season, the expectation was that Arsenal would continue to lean heavily into their set-piece strength. That has not transpired. We are seven league games into the new campaign and Arsenal have not scored a single goal from a corner. In fact, across all competitions they have not scored from any non-penalty set-piece at all.

At the same stage last season they had already scored six goals from corners in the league alone.

Goals alone do not necessarily tell the full story after seven games, so expected goals provides a clearer look under the hood.

• 2025-26: 13.8 total xG from corners, 0.36 xG per game, 0.064 xG per corner. A 6.4% chance per corner of a goal, second best in the league. Arsenal overperformed in reality, scoring from 8.8% of all corners, the highest rate.
• 2026-27: 0.22 xG per game from corners, 0.047 xG per corner. Fallen from second most dangerous per corner to ninth.

The drop from 0.064 to 0.047 represents a 26.6% reduction in the average quality of chances generated per corner. Shots from corners are also down from 2.8 per game last season, second highest in the league, to 2.1 this season, ninth highest.

Arsenal have still generated 1.55 xG from corners this season, the seventh highest total in the Premier League, suggesting they could reasonably have expected to score at least once. Only Liverpool -2.05 have underperformed their corner xG by a greater margin than Arsenal -1.55.

Same routines, different execution

Has Arsenal’s approach changed? Broadly speaking, no.

In 2025-26 Arsenal crossed the ball into the penalty area from 86.6% of corners, opting to go short on 13.0% of occasions. This season they are crossing from 84.9% of corners and playing short from 15.1%.

They are also doubling down on inswingers. Last season 96.3% of all crossed corners were inswingers. This season that figure is at 100%.

More first contact, less danger

Are Arsenal’s corner takers just not finding their targets? It is the opposite.

Last season Arsenal players made first contact with 28.3% of crossed corners, a modest success rate that ranked 12th in the Premier League. This season that figure has climbed to 42.9%, the second highest proportion of any team.

Arsenal are getting on the end of corners more often than last season. The problem is what happens next.

Personnel changes alter the profile

One significant difference is the personnel available to attack deliveries. William Saliba and Jurriën Timber have missed much of the campaign.

Timber was an underrated part of their set-piece threat last season. The Dutchman scored twice from corners in 2025-26, more than any other Arsenal player. He also made seven headed first contacts from corners, second only to Gabriel Magalhães, who led the team with 10.

With Timber out for much of this season, the distribution of first contacts is different. Kai Havertz has made more first contacts from attacking corners than any other Arsenal player with four. Gabriel, so often zoomed in on by TV cameras before any corner, has made just one.

Ben White, who has replaced Timber, has not got his head to a single corner, although he often plays more of a blocking/disrupting role.

Corners ending up in different areas

While Arsenal’s general approach has remained the same, there is a slight difference in where deliveries are ending up.

Last season Arsenal were particularly effective at attacking central areas of the six-yard box, using inswinging deliveries to create chaos in front of goal and crowd the opposition goalkeeper. This season there has been a drop in that and an increase in near-post deliveries.

The share of corners ending in that dangerous central area of the six-yard box has fallen by 7.7%, while the proportion reaching the near-post area has increased by 7.8%.

On some occasions the difference appears down to delivery execution, with corners whipped in hard and relatively flat meaning small errors hit the first man at the near post. On other occasions the near-post delivery looks deliberate, with players darting towards the front post attempting to flick the ball on. When it works a well-directed flick can redirect the ball into dangerous areas before defenders react. It is also more hit and miss, relying on two contacts rather than one.

With Premier League referees told to take a stricter stance on blocking and grappling, it could be an attempt to recreate familiar six-yard-box chaos through a slightly different route.