Arsenal are yet to find the net from a set-piece, excluding penalties, in the opening seven matches of the 2026/27 Premier League season, raising questions about their effectiveness in an area that was central to their title-winning campaign last term.

Mikel Arteta’s side scored 25 goals from non-penalty set-pieces last season, the highest tally in the competition. However, their failure to reproduce that form has placed them among four Premier League teams still waiting for their first goal from such situations, alongside Liverpool, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.

The Gunners, who earned the nickname ‘Set-piece FC’ because of their effectiveness from dead-ball situations, also scored a league-record 19 goals from corners last season.

Their success followed the arrival of set-piece specialist Nicolas Jover in 2021. Jover, who has been described as a “genius”, continues to play an important role in Arsenal’s technical setup.

Arteta blames luck for scoring drought

Arteta believes his team have created enough opportunities to have already scored several goals from set-pieces, suggesting that poor fortune rather than a complete decline in their attacking threat is responsible for the drought.

“My personal opinion is that we’ve done better things than last year in the first five games, but we have scored no goals. I think that’s the reality of set-pieces. Sometimes we score a goal, or they score an own goal, and it’s a set-piece goal, but we didn’t do things well,” Arteta said.

“It’s an element of luck sometimes and I think this season we should have scored four and we haven’t. So, if we maintain that, I think throughout the season we’ll be in really good numbers, especially if we generate the amount of situations that we do.”

Statistics from Opta support the manager’s argument that Arsenal have not fully capitalised on the chances they have created.

The north London side have registered set-piece opportunities worth 2.50 expected goals, a measure of the likelihood of scoring based on the quality of chances created. Only Liverpool and Nottingham Forest have performed worse in converting their opportunities relative to their expected goals.

Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on Sunday provided further evidence of their shortcomings in front of goal from dead-ball situations. Kai Havertz and Gabriel Magalhaes both failed to direct promising headers on target from Declan Rice’s deliveries.

They have also wasted opportunities in earlier matches. Riccardo Calafiori missed a good chance from a Martin Odegaard free-kick against Chelsea, while Aston Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki denied Rice after the midfielder connected with a Bukayo Saka corner.

The figures contrast sharply with last season, when Arsenal scored almost four more goals from set-pieces than their expected-goals total suggested they should have managed.

Premier League refereeing changes present a new challenge

Although Arsenal’s missed chances explain part of their goal drought, changes in how referees handle physical contact during corners have also affected the conditions in which teams operate.

Officials have been instructed to take firmer action against holding, grappling and blocking inside the penalty area. The intention is to make matches easier to referee and prevent attacking players from gaining an unfair advantage by obstructing opponents instead of competing for the ball.

One consequence has been an increase in free-kicks awarded to defending teams during corners, disrupting attacking routines.

Arteta acknowledged the need for Arsenal to adjust to the new interpretation of the rules while finding alternative ways to threaten opponents.

“You have to adjust to the rules and what is allowed and what is not,” said Arteta. “But that opens another window to do things that we want to do. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opponent as well. They defend better, they put more attention on that.”

Despite the changes, Arsenal’s approach to delivering corners has remained largely familiar.

The proportion of corners taken short has increased from nine per cent last season to 15 per cent in the current campaign. However, all their short corners so far came in the opening-day fixture against Coventry.

Most deliveries continue to target the six-yard area, although Arsenal have sent a greater proportion towards the near post than they did last season. Direct deliveries towards the goalkeeper have declined, with officials now offering goalkeepers greater protection from physical challenges.

Fewer corners adding to Arsenal’s problems

Arsenal’s underlying statistics also reveal a decline in the quality and quantity of their set-piece opportunities compared with last season.

Their expected goals from set-pieces have dropped from 0.56 per match last season to 0.36 per game in the current campaign.

The number of corners they are winning has also fallen considerably.

Arsenal are averaging 4.7 corners per match after seven league games, their lowest rate at this stage compared with any of the previous nine seasons.

That represents a 17 per cent decrease from last season’s average of 5.7 corners per game. The decline is even more pronounced when compared with the two campaigns before that, when they averaged close to seven corners per match.

A return to their previous corner-winning levels, combined with better finishing, could help Arsenal rediscover their scoring touch from set-pieces.

However, Arteta has repeatedly stressed the importance of his team finding different ways to score rather than relying heavily on dead-ball situations.

Improvement in open play offers encouragement

Arsenal’s latest performance against Nottingham Forest did little to demonstrate their attacking improvement in open play, as they struggled to break down their opponents before Noni Madueke scored the late winning goal.

Nevertheless, their performances across the season suggest progress in their possession-based approach, with the team creating and scoring more goals through open play.

The improvement could prove important as they attempt to compensate for the absence of set-piece goals. Last season, 37 per cent of Arsenal’s Premier League goals came from non-penalty set-pieces, highlighting just how heavily they depended on that source of scoring.

Although their current numbers represent a decline, the evidence does not suggest that Arsenal have completely lost their threat from dead-ball situations.

Missed chances, fewer corners and tighter refereeing around set-pieces have all contributed to their slow start in this department.

With more consistent finishing and a possible increase in the number of opportunities they generate, Arsenal could soon return to scoring from set-pieces, even if matching last season’s record-breaking figures proves difficult.