A quick run-down of every single team's Set-Pieces (Part 1/2)

Just a quick one today as actually collating the data for this took WAY too long.

As always, check out my new FPL Instagram for the same exact information in bite-sized, more visual chunks that you don't to have a completely dry inbox on dating apps to read the entirety of: www.instagram.com/fantasy_trennier_league

And as always, KEY TAKEAWAYS at the bottom will have the key points from the post

What exactly are you covering in this post?

Bit the bullet and got a Fantasy Football Scout membership, so I got data on EVERY Set-Piece this season to get a clearer idea of who is ACTUALLY on Set-Pieces. So this post will be reading into that data, with external potentially relevant factors for FPL relevant players.

ARSENAL:

Don't care.

(I did the research on them just like every other team, but if you want to buy Arsenal players, you're on your own)

ASTON VILLA:

Tielemans (5.5, MID, 1.2% Ownership) is their only Right-Footed Set-Piece Taker, and while he had 2 Goals and 6 Assists last season, he also only had 1.24 xG and 1.98 xA (following a season where he had 3 Goals and 3 Assists off 2.5 xG and 2.99 xA). With 0.18 xG and 0.58 xA so far this season (extrapolates to 2.28 xG and 7.34 xA across 38 Games), and with Villa playing in the Champion's League this season, there's just outright better options in his price range. He's a Centre-Mid lmfao, can't expect them to bring Fantasy Relevance.

Left-Footed Bailey (6.4, MID, 2.3% Ownership) took 3 Corners in Villa's 1st 2 Games (v Tielemans' 4), finding a Villa player with 1 of them. With 0.25 xG and 0.24 xA in his 1st 2 Games, followed by a Hamstring Injury 15 Minutes into the 3rd Game against Leicester, we're going to have to see A LOT more from Bailey before he's worthy of consideration at his current price. Yes he scored 10 Goals and 11 Assists last season, but at 6.29 xG and 7.17 xA he was likely overachieving and due for regression and well... we're seeing it.

Fellow Left-Footer Lucas Digne (4.5, DEF, 4.9% Ownership) has been the talk of r/FantasyPL lately, in part because he just keeps starting, but mostly because he got an Assist against Leicester and this sub has the knees of Kamaru Usman. The reason Digne wasn't getting signed before the season was that Villa spent €45 Million on Dortmund's starting Left Back from the end of 2023-24 Ian Maatsen, who plays the exact same position Digne does. While Digne DID take 3 Corners in GW3 against Leicester, he missed Villa players with ALL of them, and while finding a Villa player with 1/2 of his Indirect Free Kicks is impressive (the bar is VERY low on those lol), feels unlikely it'll usurp the fact Digne is 31 and in decline while Maatsen is 22 and presumably improving. If not for that fact, would Digne be worth signing? Honestly probably not, 0.26 xA is unspectacular and while the cross to Duran was good against Leicester, I couldn't help but think the defending was truly atrocious (buddy covering Digne gave him SO much space for no reason).

BOURNEMOUTH:

Lewis Cook (5.0, MID, 0.1% Ownership) is Bournemouth's main Right-Footed Set Piece Taker, with 11 Corners so far and 4 of them hitting Bournemouth players, alongside his 1 Indirect Free Kick hitting a Bournemouth player. Unfortunately, Centre-Mid at best, Defensive Mid at worst, meaning 0.19 xG and 0.53 xA so far (2.41 xG and 6.71 xA extrapolated to 38 Games) following on from 3 Assists off 0.42 xG and 2.92 xA last season, and 2 Assists off 0.24 xG and 2.3 xA the season before that. You can do better, even at 5.0.

Marcus Tavernier (5.5, MID, 0.3% Ownership) was an EXTREMELY pleasant surprise that has me about to commit sacrilege in this sub - Wait til the end of the paragraph (but you know what's coming). So Tavernier is Bournemouth's Left-Footed Set Piece Taker, and he's seeing A LOT of action in the FK department (think prime Pete Davidson with like half of Hollywood, except he's growing Cherries instead of popping them). In the 1st 3 Games, Tavernier has taken 6 Corners, of which 3 have hit Bournemouth players, 3 Indirect Free Kicks, of which 1 has hit a Bournemouth player, and 2 Direct Free Kicks. Funnily enough, his lone Goal so far WASN'T from a Set Piece (he just stood in front of goal while Semenyo did all the work getting past the defenders and passed it to him for a tap-in), but his xG is HIGH at 1.92, alongside 0.38 xA.

So why am I considering Tavernier over Semenyo? Price aside (5.6 ain't a MASSIVE jump from 5.5), and ignoring the allure of 0.3% Ownership over 5.0% and the 'I Am Very Smart' feeling you get when you ignore actual points so far in favour of picking someone less obvious:

Tavernier's 1.92 xG and 0.38 xA is just outright more promising than Semenyo's 1.21 xG and 1.3 xA. Remember, Goals from Midfielders are worth 5 Points, while Assists are only worth 3 Points. And while at 1st glance Semenyo seems proven looking at his 8 Goals and 4 Assists last season (v Tavernier's 3 Goals and 4 Assists in near identical Minutes), Semenyo only had 4.69 xG and 2.19 xA, which is similar to Tavernier's 3.88 xG and 4.24 xA. The other factor is Bonus - We all know Assists are 9 BPS and Midfielder Goals are 18 BPS. Yet so far Tavernier has had BPS of 14, 32 and 6 (with 2BP), while Semenyo had BPS of 23, 20 and 25 (with 1BP) EVEN WITH his offensive output. Not to mention the fact top Defensive teams concede a similar total of Set Piece Goals as teams further down the table (except City lol, 3 Set Piece Goals Conceded last season), so in theory Tavernier has a safer path to returns during Bournemouth's upcoming Fixture Hell (Chelsea GW4, Liverpool at Anfield GW5, Arsenal GW8, ESPECIALLY Villa at Villa Park GW9 (2nd most Set Piece Goals Conceded last season with 16), albeit obviously not City GW10) than the Open-Play reliant Semenyo will. I'm just saying, keep watch in GW4 and 5, Tavernier may be the play from GW6 on.

BRENTFORD:

Mathias Jensen (5.5, MID, 0.2% Ownership) is Brentford's main Right-Footed Set Piece Taker. Having hit a Brentford player 1 time off 4 Corners, and 0 times in his 1 Indirect Free Kick, not SUPER promising offensively there. Add to that the 0.1 xG and 0.46 xA so far (1.27 xG and 5.83 xA extrapolated to 38 Games), and the fact he only had 0.71 xG and 4.89 xA last season, and at the 5.5 Mil price point, you can do better.

Brentford's Left-Footed Set Piece Taker is cult hero Bryan Mbeumo (7.1, MID, 7.8% Ownership), and I'm gonna be real: The data is encouraging. Granted, not so much the Corners: Hitting a Brentford player once off 6 Corners is kind of abysmal. BUT hitting a Brentford player once off 3 Indirect Free Kicks... means Brentford keep going to him on Set Pieces and don't have anyone better they can use instead. Add to that the 0.93 xG and 0.91 xA so far (extrapolates to 11.78 xG and 11.53 xA) in spite of already playing Liverpool, and the fact he got 9 Goals and 7 Assists in 1,957 Minutes last season (a Goal/Assist every 123 Minutes, which is just under a Goal/Assist every 1.5 Games) which was almost exactly in line with his 9.7 xG and 5.67 xA (suggesting sustainability) AND the 9 Goals and 9 Assists the season before as well, and you got yourself a viable option. While you don't want to bring him in against City in GW4 (3 Set Piece Goals Conceded last season lol), he surprisingly COULD be an asset against Tottenham in GW5, who had the 3rd highest Set Piece Goals Conceded in 2023-24 with 14 (tied with United).

BRIGHTON:

Bro Brighton are kind of a mess on Set Pieces lol. For Right Footers they had Milner (No.) taking all the Corners in Week 1, gave Enciso (5.4, MID, 0.1% Ownership... for a reason. No.) 3 Corners and an Indirect Free Kick in 16 Minutes between Games 2 and 3 (he hit Brighton players with 0 of them lmfao), gave both Joao Pedro and Ayari a Corner apiece in GW 3 (both missed all the Brighton players lmfao), and they gave Hinshelwood (Defender classed as a MID. No.) 3 Indirect Free Kicks, which he hit 1 Brighton player with.

At 1st glance Left-Footers SEEM more promising, with Minteh (5.5, MID, 1.8% Ownership) getting a Corner in each of GW2 and GW3 (he missed both of them), and an Indirect Free Kick in each of GW2 and GW3 (hit a Brighton player in GW2 v United, missed in GW3 v Arsenal). And as a Minteh truther, you KNOW I want to make the argument of "This is actually really good because United and Arsenal are super strong Defences" (conveniently forgetting that United Conceded the 3rd most Set Piece Goals in 2023-24 (14)). I really badly want to.

The problem is a familiar enemy of r/FantasyPL: Estupidman.

The only other Left-Footed Set Piece Taker to play for Brighton so far this season, in his 18 Minutes so far (albeit against a 10 man Arsenal), Estupiñan took 2 Corners, hit a Brighton player with 1 of them, took an Indirect Free Kick, and hit a Brighton player with that too. Granted, Minteh was not on the pitch at that point, but Estupidman doing well does not bode well for our Yakubu Minteh hopes.

CHELSEA:

Chelsea's Right-Footed Set Piece Taker is Enzo Fernández (5.0, MID, 1.7% Ownership). He's aite on Corners (hit a Chelsea player on 2/6 so far), but with 0.22 xG and 0.2 xA so far, which makes sense given he's a Defensive Mid: No.

Left-Footed Neto (6.5, MID, 1.0% Ownership) took A Corner against Wolves, but he missed, hasn't played 60+ Minutes once yet, and somehow has even worse xG/xA than Defensive Mid Enzo Fernández, so: No.

Cold Palmer (10.6, MID, 41.3% Ownership) has taken the bulk of Chelsea's Set Pieces, with 6 Corners and 3 Indirect Free Kicks. Granted, he's only actually hit a Chelsea player on 1 Corner and 1 Indirect Free Kick, but Chelsea don't really have anyone else who can take Left-Footed Set Pieces and it's probably good for his confidence to just keep taking them anyway. Also he's take 2 Direct Free Kicks. Idk if you would get him you got him, if you don't have him you aren't getting him, and I fully acknowledge I'm 100% biased in his favour (Spurs fan, but his nuanced playstyle compared to his off-field personality will forever be hilarious to be. Bro is a real-life Ferb).

CRYSTAL PALACE:

If you're an Eze (6.9, MID, 24.8%) owner, you're going to leave feeling... ambivalent. Although he WAS taking the bulk of Palace's Right-Footed Corners, with 3 in the 1st 2 Games, he took 0 Corners in GW3. The issue? Fellow Right-Footer Daichi Kamada (5.4, MID, 0.3% Ownership) took 2. And it's not like he took them because Eze had been subbed off, Eze has played all 270 Minutes of the season so far. The positive is that Kamada seems to suck at Corners as much as Eze does, with the two going a combined 0/5 so far. The negative is that Kamada EXCELLED under Glasner at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga (9 Goals, 6 Assists from 9.9 xG and 3.4 xA in 2,265 Minutes in 2022-23, having also managed 5 Goals and 12 Assists from 5.6 xG and 7.5 xA in 2,356 Minutes in 2020-21, albeit with a down season in the middle in 2021-22), so there's every possibility Glasner does everything in his power to make Kamada succeed. Actually feasibly Kamada could be on Penalties too, given he scored all 3 attempts for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022-23. But I divest.

The positive for Eze is that he's still THE guy for Indirect Free Kicks, connecting with Palace players on 2/3 attempts so far (1/2 in GW2, 1/1 in GW3), and he got a Direct Free Kick in GW1.

Muñoz (5.0, DEF, 3.5% Ownership) also took a Corner in GW1, but given it's his only Set Piece so far and he missed it, probably an anomaly.

Kinda sold myself on Kamada (5.4, MID, 0.3%) in that 1st paragraph icl. Not to buy right now obviously, but we will be watching his career with great interest.

Palace's Left-Footed Set Piece Taker is Wharton (5.0, MID, 0.4% Ownership). 6 Corners so far, hit a Palace player on 1 of them. Defensive Midfielder, so don't even think about it.

EVERTON:

Everton's entire Set Piece offence goes through Dwight McNeil (5.4, MID, 0.6% Ownership), which will be no surprised to anyone who has followed Sean Dyche's career since debuting him at Burnley in 2018. He's actually REALLY ACCURATE too, having hit an Everton player with 10/13 of his Corners, albeit only hitting an Everton player on 1/5 Indirect Free Kicks. The fact Everton have had 13 Corners so far is noteworthy in itself, until you remember they're managed by Sean Dyche and Set Pieces are 99% of his patented worm-eating Brexit Ball offence.

So is Dwight McNeil actually worth considering? This may surprise you... but maybe. I'm serious lol. 0.09 xG so far is pitiful, but 1.55 xA is GOOD (extrapolates to 19.6 xA over 38 Games). He had a solid enough 3 Goals and 8 Assists last season (off 3.26 xG and 7.9 xA), and even managed 7 Goals and 5 Assists in 2022/23 (albeit off a less promising 3.51 xG and 5.45 xA (which actually DID predominantly come under Dyche: Dyche arrived 30 January, McNeil got 5 Goals and 3 Assists in the 17 Games after that)). Most pertinently, while the prospect of a 19.6 xA season DOES sound insane (and may be skewed by playing Tottenham already, who conceded the 3rd most Set Piece Goals in 2023-24 (14)), Dwight McNeil IS amazingly only 24 years old, so it's legitimately possible he's still improving markedly. For reference: Daniel Sturridge had his MONSTER glow-up at 23 in the 2012-13 season, so it's not uncommon for everything to just click for a player in those mid-20s years. Moreover, if there WAS ever a time to take a chance on Dwight McNeil, it would actually be now, with 2023-24's 2nd highest Set Piece Goals Conceded team Aston Villa (16) up next in GW4, followed by easy matches until GW13 (and honestly playable matches until GW15). Not to mention the fact the Transfer Window closing APPEARS to have motivated Dominic Calvert-Lewin to actually start trying (0.05 xG and 0.01 xA from the 1st 2 Games v 0.31 xG and 0.4 xA in GW3).

Obviously you'd have to be INSANE to bring in an offensive Sean Dyche Everton player now (and possibly ever), but I saw a post on Instagram that said you'd have to be insane to be attracted to women older than you, and Sofía Vergara is 52...

And on a more FPL-related note, Sean Dyche basically designs his entire offensive system around Dwight McNeil. So if you WERE to invest in an offensive Everton player, it'd be him. If nothing else, he's worth putting on the watchlist.

FULHAM:

Last team for today, and it'll be the fastest one, because Fulham's entire Set Piece offence is Andreas Pereira (5.4, MID, 2.8% Ownership). Having seen Pereira's Set Piece numbers, I'm starting to understand WHY Marco Silva loves him so much: Bro is ACCURATE. In 33 Corners so far, Pereira has hit a Fulham player 21 times. Indirect Free Kicks are less good, with 1 hit in 6 attempts, but it IS all still usage, and his Direct Free Kick in GW2 is the cherry on top.

Unlike Everton with Dwight McNeil, Fulham's offense exists outside Pereira, and given Adama is 0.4 Mil cheaper and Emile Smith-Rowe has higher Goalscoring upside (and even Muniz exhibited EXPLOSIVE potential last season as a FWD), you're probably not seriously looking at Pereira. 0.06 xG so far ain't exactly exciting, and 1.01 xA is fine, but a little uninspiring vs comparable options. Moreover, while 3 Goals and 9 Assists last season is good, the 4.52 xG and 5.72 xG backing it up is less promising. Ditto to the fact Pereira improving at 28 is a bit less likely than Dwight McNeill improving at 24 (... then again we DO appear to have seen Adama improve his end product at 28, so never say never).

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. If Ian Maatsen wasn't at ASTON VILLA, Lucas Digne might be worth considering. But if I looked like Henry Cavill I'd be dating Margot Robbie, and instead I'm writing 4,000 word Fantasy Premier League articles on Reddit overnight on a Saturday. So no, you're not buying Lucas Digne.
2. Marcus Tavernier (5.5, MID, 0.3% Ownership) MAY be a better option than Semenyo (5.6, MID, 5.0% Ownership). Tavernier is Bournemouth's Left-Footed Set Piece Taker, and amassed 1.92 xG and 0.38 xA vs Semenyo's 1.21 xG and 1.3 xA. Semenyo does NOT take Set Pieces, he's only managed 1 Bonus so far in spite of 2 Goals + 1 Assist, and Bournemouth are about to go through Fixture Hell against teams who are DISPROPORTIONATELY BAD AGAINST SET PIECES. Plus you'll look REALLY SMART if it comes off, and isn't that why we all play FPL to begin with?
3. Mbeumo (7.1, MID, 7.8% Ownership) is Brentford's Set Piece guy (for the most part). Is he good at them? Not particularly. But Brentford don't have anyone better who shoots with their left foot, and if you spend enough time looking at the ground while you're walking, eventually you'll hit a streetligh-... I mean, eventually you'll find a 20
4. Estupiñan could ruin Minteh's Set Pieces if he keeps getting Minutes. Unknown who takes them when they're both on the field, but Estupiñan has been more accurate so far, and both are Left-Footed.
5. Cole Palmer
6. Eze (6.9, MID, 24.8% Ownership) is Palace's Free Kick guy, but he may have lost his Corners to Kamada (5.4, MID, 0.3% Ownership). Granted, neither have actually hit a Palace player with a Free Kick yet, but both are Right-Footed and Kamada took both Corners in GW3. Moreover, Kamada excelled under Glasner at Eintracht Frankfurt from 2021-23, so as well as ruining Eze's points Kamada is worth putting on your watchlist himself. He MAY even be Palace's Penalties guy (3/3 in 2022-23 under Glasner).
7. Dwight McNeil (5.4, MID, 0.6% Ownership) is SO accurate with his Set Pieces (10/13 on Corners, albeit 1/5 on Indirect Free Kicks), he may actually be worth considering. Psychos will see a Villa side who conceded the 2nd most Set Piece Goals in 2023-24 (16) in GW4 and make the play. But Fixtures are so easy + Dyche's whole game built around him + extrapolated 19.6 xA for 38 Games (1.55 xA so far) + young enough to still improve (24) + DCL maybe actually trying now means McNeil is worth adding to the watchlist
8. Andreas Pereira (5.4, MID, 2.8% Ownership) will probably be a locked starter for Fulham forever because he's REALLY accurate on Set Pieces (21/33 Corners, albeit 1/6 Indirect Free Kicks). Probably not an FPL option, but he may block legit FPL options from starting.

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Part II will be tomorrow probably, depends how my workout goes

UPDATE: Not saying Kamada is definitely on Penalties for Crystal Palace, he obviously may not be, but Crystal Palace had 4 Penalties last season and Eze only took 1 of them (Mateta took 1 after that, then Olise took another, then Mateta took a 2nd). It also sounds like Glasner hasn't definitively said Eze is on Penalties. It doesn't sounds like there's any actual reason to believe Eze IS on Penalties for Palace, I think you all just want him to be.

So honestly Palace's Penalty Taker could feasibly be any of Mateta, Eze or Kamada

UPDATE 2: Eze missed the 24 February 2024 game against Burnley with Injury (Mateta Penalty), and missed the 9 December game against Liverpool (Mateta Penalty) and most of the 16 December game against City (Olise Penalty) with what appears to be an Ankle Injury that Transfermarkt isn't calling an Injury for some reason

... but Palace have literally only had 1 Penalty under Glasner, and Mateta was the one who took it (regardless of whether Eze was on the pitch or not)

So yeah basically there's no way of knowing whether Mateta, Eze or Kamada will take Penalties for Palace (or even someone else entirely)