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Premier League without set-piece goals: What would the table look like?
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes Premier League teams need to adapt to Arsenal's set piece threat from corners. (1:41)
We've been writing about it since October, and you hear about it every weekend now, but it still bears repeating: this season, the Premier League fundamentally changed — almost overnight.
While it's perhaps comforting to view the rise of set plays as part of the tactical ebb-and-flow that defines the history of a dynamic sport with barely any rules, this feels quite different. At this point in the previous two seasons in the Premier League, teams had combined for 798 and 737 goals from open play and the penalty spot. That's an average of about 768 goals through 31 matches.
Legendary Arsenal coach responds to theory of where set-piece craze REALLY began
Arsenal have had great success from corners this season(Image: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Football has had inverted full backs, sweeper keepers and playing out from the back. Now the Premier League is dominated by set-pieces. Corners, long-throws, grappling at corners, blocking and free kicks.
There might be a whole generation who have no idea about the sweeper system and the only time they have heard the word libero is because an excellent football podcast goes by that name.
If history tells us anything, it is that football is cyclical. Playing styles, formations and even teams come and go. Liverpool's success in the 1980s felt like it would last forever. Manchester United the same in the 90s.
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Have set pieces taken over the Premier League?
England manager Thomas Tuchel declared that long throws were "back" in a press conference last September – and in the months since then, set pieces have dominated discussion in Premier League football. Arsenal's rise to the top of the table has in part been fuelled by their prowess from free kicks and corners, while Michael Kayode's long throws have proved a potent weapon for Brentford. However, there are plenty of critics who say they're making the game less interesting to watch.
Back in September, More than the Score's John Bennett and BBC football tactics correspondent Umir Irfan spoke to two people who know plenty about how effective a long throw can be. Thomas Gronnemark has made a living out of throw-ins as a throw-in coach at Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund. Former Republic of Ireland international Megan Campbell knows how to launch the ball into the box as the world record holder of the longest throw-in by a women’s player. They discuss what it takes to perfect the art and tactic of a long-throw, and the advantages that can be gained.
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