When building a Fantasy Premier League squad, knowing the set-piece takers for each club can give managers the edge over mini-league rivals.
Ahead of 2019/20, The Scout analyses which players to target.
Crystal Palace
No player in FPL demonstrates the value of set-pieces more than Luka Milivojevic (£7.0m).
The Crystal Palace man scored just one goal from open play last season.
Yet he still finished as the eighth highest-scoring midfielder on 166 points.
Palace's set-piece takers
| Choice | Penalty | Corner | Free-kick |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Milivojevic | Milivojevic | Milivojevic |
| Second | Benteke | Townsend | Townsend |
| Third | - | Meyer | Meyer |
Penalties are Milivojevic’s main source of goals.
The Eagles were awarded 11 spot-kicks in 2018/19, second only to the 12 of Manchester United.
Milivojevic stepped up on every occasion and converted 10 of his attempts.
The Serb continues to be the dominant force for spot-kicks in FPL. Seventeen of Milivojevic’s 22 goals in the last two campaigns have been scored this way.
To put this into perspective, Paul Pogba (£8.5m) was the only other player to score more than five penalties last season, with seven.
The Zaha factor
The trickery of Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m) is crucial in securing dead-ball situations for Palace.
The player who has been reclassified as an FPL midfielder for 2019/20 won six penalties last season, more than any other player. Five of his 11 assists were from Milivojevic's spot-kicks.
Zaha was also the second most-fouled player in the final third of the pitch in 2018/19. This meant Roy Hodgson’s side were often awarded free-kicks in advanced positions.
Once again, Milivojevic was the one to benefit.
He fired 16 shots from direct free-kicks, more than any other player in FPL, and found the net once.
Reliable deliveries
When it comes to corner kicks, Milivojevic is also the number one choice for Hodgson’s side.
He took 143 of their 205 corners, a total ranked third in FPL. As a result, both of Milivojevic’s assists last season also came from set-pieces.
The aerial threat of James Tomkins (£5.0m) is a big weapon for Palace, too.
Although the centre-back scored just one goal, only six defenders bettered his total of 16 headed shots at set-pieces.
