Every new season brings small tactical shifts that, added up over time, change the face of the game. In 2026-27, two trends stand out clearly from the early statistical analysis of the Premier League and beyond: the growing centrality of set pieces as a structured attacking weapon, and the increasingly systematic use of data in match preparation.
On the set-piece front, more and more Premier League clubs — and clubs across Europe's other major leagues — have added a coaching role dedicated exclusively to dead-ball situations: corners, free-kicks, long throw-ins. This is no longer a routine drilled once during the week and left to individual instinct on matchday; it has become a tactical department in its own right, with codified routines, marking blocks studied in detail, and variations prepared specifically for each opponent. Statistics from recent seasons show a steadily rising share of goals scored from set pieces, and that trend looks set to continue this year.
At the same time, observers of English football continue to note that Premier League sides remain, on average, more direct in their build-up play than their Serie A, La Liga or Bundesliga counterparts, with above-average use of crossing and vertical passing compared to the rest of the continent. It's a stylistic identity that coexists, seemingly in tension, with an increasingly sophisticated use of data: English clubs are among the most advanced in the world at folding advanced metrics (xG, xA, PPDA and pressing models) into recruitment decisions and weekly tactical preparation, even while the football on the pitch often remains more pragmatic than elegant.
That combination of data and pragmatism says a lot about where the modern game is heading: statistical analysis isn't necessarily producing more elaborate or "continental" football, but it is making existing approaches more efficient and effective, sharpening details that used to be left to chance or a coach's gut feeling. The result is a game where the gap between the top clubs and the rest is increasingly decided at the margins: a few centimetres on a corner kick, a pressing trigger calibrated to an opponent's data profile, a pinpoint cross drilled on the training ground all week.
For anyone analysing matches with predictions in mind, keeping an eye on these tactical details — not just recent results, but how teams actually create their chances — is becoming ever more useful for correctly reading bookmakers' odds and spotting value markets, from set-piece goals to corner-count statistics.