After nearly six rounds in the 2025/2026 Premier League campaign, many tactical battles and ideas have stood out, offering coaches, analysts, and fans around the world a chance to explore new ideas or revisit old ones through a different lens.
Set-pieces are among the trends in which the Premier League has been considered the best in the world in recent years.
One of the most prominent set-piece trends this season is the increasing number of teams adopting the strategy of using long throw-ins, compared to previous seasons.
If you watch Premier League matches this season, you will notice the dangerous chances or even decisive goals that come from long throw-ins.
In this Premier League set-piece analysis, we will explain how long throw-ins have been used in a different and more structured way than in the past.
In this Premier League tactical analysis, we will demonstrate how teams utilize different starting positions (from the defenders blind side) for players who flick the ball, frame the goal, make second-line penetrating runs, and secure the rebound ball on the edge of the box.
We will provide examples of Crystal Palace, Brentford, Chelsea, Burnley, and Newcastle United to illustrate how they share common principles and tactics.
Different Starting Positions & Framing The Goal
Lets start with Crystal Palace.
As shown below, Aston Villa defend zonally against Crystal Palace in the Premier League with a 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 shape.
At the same time, Crystal Palaces two players responsible for flicking the ball start near the goal, coming from the blind side of the first defender from two different directions, making it difficult for him to get the first touch against them.
The second advantage of this starting position is that it essentially evacuates the targeted area (blue), leaving one defender there.
The remaining defenders are dragged further inside because of their starting position close to the near post.
This makes the fight easier and nearer to the goal (which we will discuss later).
At the same time, three runners are penetrating Aston Villas second line, framing the goal to increase the possibility of getting the flicked ball, as shown below.
They exploit the fact that the defenders keep watching the ball in the air, not attentive to these runs, especially the last runner who runs on the blind side of the last defender.
We shouldnt neglect
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