Our Set Piece Takers tab details the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players responsible for corners, free-kicks and penalties at their respective clubs.
The table had its first refresh of the 2021/22 season following the completion of Gameweek 1, with the headline news in the article below.
PENALTIES
There were just two penalties awarded on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, with Aston Villa and West Ham United handed the chance to score from 12 yards in their respective games.
The situation remains a tad unclear at both clubs.
Danny Ings (£8.0m) stepped up to take Villa’s effort late on in the 3-2 defeat to Watford but Anwar El Ghazi (£6.0m), who established himself as the Villans’ first choice in 2020/21, has already been substituted.
Mark Noble (£4.5m) has been first in line for West Ham for some time but pitch-time is increasingly scarce for the veteran midfielder, so whoever is the deputy for David Moyes’s side is crucial.
Declan Rice (£5.0m) and loanee Jesse Lingard (£7.0m) had both taken two spot-kicks in Noble’s absence last season but it was Michail Antonio (£7.5m), with Rice on the pitch, who took charge when the Hammers were awarded a penalty at Newcastle United on Sunday; his miss further clouding the picture.
DIRECT FREE-KICKS
Above: A Custom Stats table taken from the Premium Members Area
Many of the usual suspects are present above, having been high up the pecking order for free-kicks last season.
Villa summer signiing Leon Bailey (£6.5m) is a name to note, however, having taken his side’s only direct free-kick on Saturday.
CORNER-KICKS
| Club | Corners Taken |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | Pepe (3), Tierney (1), Saka (1) |
| Aston Villa | Buendía (3), McGinn (1) |
| Brentford | Canos (2) |
| Brighton and Hove Albion | Groß (4), March (2) |
| Burnley | Westwood (6), McNeil (1) |
| Chelsea | Mount (5) |
| Crystal Palace | Riedewald (2) |
| Everton | Digne (5), Townsend (1) |
| Leeds United | Raphinha (4) |
| Leicester City | Tielemans (3), Thomas (2) |
| Liverpool | Tsimikas (7), Alexander-Arnold (4) |
| Manchester City | Gündogan (5), De Bruyne (3), Mahrez (1), Grealish (1), Zinchenko (1) |
| Manchester United | Shaw (3), Greenwood (2) |
| Newcastle United | Ritchie (5), Fraser (1), Shelvey (1) |
| Norwich City | Gilmour (2), Rashica (1) |
| Southampton | Ward-Prowse (8) |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Son (3) |
| Watford | Cleverley (1), Sema (1) |
| West Ham United | Bowen (4), Cresswell (2) |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | Moutinho (1), Ruben Neves (1), Trincão (1), Gibbs-White (1) |
A lot of the familiar dead-ball specialists were again on corner-taking duties in Gameweek 1, with Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m), Son Heung-min (£10.0m), Kevin De Bruyne (£12.0m), Luke Shaw (£5.5m), James Ward-Prowse (£6.5m), Pascal Gross (£6.0m), Mason Mount (£7.5m), Ashley Westwood (£5.5m), Raphinha (£6.5m) and Aaron Cresswell (£5.5m) all present in the above table.
Lucas Digne (£5.5m) seems to have more of a stronghold at Everton, meanwhile, with Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.0m) and James Rodriguez (£7.0m) out of the picture on Saturday and their futures uncertain.
On budget asset watch, Kostas Tsimikas (£4.0m), in for the injured Andrew Robertson (£7.0m), took seven of Liverpool’s 11 corner-kicks on Saturday evening.
Billy Gilmour (£4.5m) delivered two of Norwich’s three corners, while Jairo Riedewald (£5.0m) also carried on where he left off in pre-season and was at the front of the queue for Crystal Palace – although Eberechi Eze (£6.0m) and Luka Milivojevic (£5.5m) were sidelined.
Matt Ritchie (£5.0m), newly classified as an FPL defender, was again first in line for Newcastle United, while Luke Thomas (£4.5m) shared responsibility with Youri Tielemans (£6.5m) at Leicester as James Maddison (£7.0m) was again overlooked.
Emiliano Buendia (£6.5m) was straight into the thick of the action for Villa, meanwhile, taking three of their four corners.
In the absence of Mathias Jensen (£5.0m), Brentford’s primary taker of set pieces in 2020/21, Sergi Canos (£5.5m) was handed corner-taking duties for the Bees at home to Arsenal.
