Bbc: New set-piece kings — Liverpool can still achieve 'something beautiful'
Liverpool's 5-2 victory over West Ham underlined a dramatic reversal in a season-long weakness, and the -style framing of the club as new set-piece kings is hard to dismiss. The timing matters because the win moves Arne Slot's side into March with improved momentum and measurable progress toward their Champions League objective.
: Slot reflects on set-piece improvement
Manager Arne Slot highlighted the shift after the rout, saying he could feel "the nervousness inside the stadium" during a match that was clinical in key moments even if not always controlled. Slot has been explicit about targets: he admitted it would not be an acceptable season if the reigning champions failed to qualify for the Champions League, and recent results have been steered toward that baseline goal.
Liverpool: five goals and a statement
The scoreline itself carried context. Liverpool scored five in the Premier League for the first time since a 5-1 win at Tottenham in April 2025, the day they clinched the title in similarly sunny conditions. The 5-2 win over West Ham was also part of a run where Liverpool have won four of five Premier League games, matching the total number of wins they achieved across the previous 13 league fixtures (with 6 draws and 3 defeats).
Set-pieces: seven straight and a remarkable statistical swing
The match sat inside a larger pattern. At 3-0 in the first half of the 5-2 result, Liverpool had completed a sequence of seven straight Premier League goals scored from set-pieces — the longest such run in competition history. Since the turn of the year the club has scored more goals from set-pieces, excluding penalties, than any other team in the league; previously, up to the new year, Liverpool had been the side to score the fewest set-piece goals in the division.
Concrete figures underline the change: seven of Liverpool's most recent nine Premier League goals have come from set-pieces — five from corners, one from a direct free-kick and one from a throw-in. Those seven set-piece goals are one more than the entire tally from set-pieces in Liverpool's first 38 goals of the season. All three of Liverpool's first-half goals against West Ham arrived from corners.
West Ham: defensive errors and corner problems
That output was aided by specific defensive lapses from West Ham. Hugo Ekitike's opener followed a second-phase slip that the Hammers failed to react to, Virgil van Dijk was given an unchallenged jump for a subsequent corner, and the hosts allowed multiple contacts on a corner that led to Alexis Mac Allister's third. Opponents had prepared to stop van Dijk — Mateus Fernandes said his side had worked all week on a plan to do so — but the plan did not prevent those set-piece finishes. The three corner goals before half-time took West Ham's concession total from corners to 15.
Virgil van Dijk, injuries and personnel changes at Anfield
Virgil van Dijk's aerial threat remains central: he is now the second-highest scoring central defender in Premier League history behind John Terry. Liverpool's effective set-piece play has also arrived despite the absence of both of their £100m-plus forwards, who remain injured, meaning the side scored five without either of its most expensive attacking signings on the pitch.
Personnel shifts off the pitch have played a role. At the end of 2025 former set-piece coach Aaron Briggs left the club; the existing coaching staff at Anfield absorbed his duties. Observers and players have credited the technical staff around Slot with rapid improvement on training ground routines that, as one player put it, can be decisive when a game is stuck.
There is a clear cause-and-effect line: targeted coaching changes and training-ground work have transformed Liverpool's weakest area into a reliable scoring channel, producing wins that have lifted them to fifth place and closed some of the gap on the teams above — a gap that at one point stretched to 23 goals behind Arsenal including penalties, a shortfall Slot says they have reduced. What makes this notable is how quickly set-piece success has altered match outcomes, turning previous frustration into a practical mechanism for salvaging a demanding season.
Liverpool have now lost just twice in their past 21 matches in all competitions, and the club appear to have restored the ability to find results through late winners, hardy away displays and an improving set-piece catalogue — developments Slot described as both pleasing to the team and to supporters.
