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 Season | Gameweeks 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% |
