Who was Manchester United’s first-choice penalty taker in 2017/18?

This article looks back at Manchester United’s set-piece options during the 2017/18 season, when José Mourinho’s squad included Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial, Paul Pogba, Juan Mata and new arrival Alexis Sánchez.

During the course of the 2016/17 English Premier League season, a total of 106 penalties were awarded, equalling the record set in the 2009/10 campaign and representing the highest total of the Premier League era at that point.

José Mourinho may therefore have been disappointed that Manchester United were awarded only four of those spot-kicks. United won just two more during the first half of the 2017/18 season, leaving the club with only five Premier League penalties during the 2017 calendar year.

With Zlatan Ibrahimović seeing very little game time because of injuries and Wayne Rooney having moved on, the door was open for a new first-choice penalty taker to emerge.

Romelu Lukaku failed to convert from the spot early in his United career, putting Anthony Martial firmly in contention for penalty-taking duties.

However, the January 2018 arrival of Alexis Sánchez from Arsenal added another experienced option. The Chile international had previously taken penalties for Arsenal and was certainly not a player likely to shy away from responsibility.

Paul Pogba and Daley Blind had also scored penalties in European competition under Mourinho, while Ander Herrera and Juan Mata had previously converted spot-kicks for United.

The situation was therefore relatively fluid, with Mourinho preferring to determine penalty-taking responsibilities according to the players available for a particular match.

Who took Manchester United’s corners and direct free-kicks?

Another area in which United had room for improvement following Mourinho’s first season in charge was their output from dead-ball situations.

Champions Chelsea led the way with 22 goals from set-piece situations during 2016/17, while Manchester United scored only seven. Sunderland were the only Premier League side to record a lower total.

That was a surprising statistic given the physical presence within Mourinho’s squad, but United became considerably more productive from set pieces during his second season.

No single player completely monopolised dead-ball duties. United could call upon several technically accomplished players, including Juan Mata, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, while different combinations were used for corners and free-kicks depending on the situation.

The arrival of Sánchez added another accomplished set-piece option and increased the competition for corners, free-kicks and penalties during the second half of the campaign.

Editor’s note: This article was originally produced as a Manchester United set-piece guide for the 2017/18 season. The original table of penalty, free-kick and corner takers is no longer available following a later website migration. The article has been retained as part of the Fantasy Sports Portal archive and should not be interpreted as a guide to Manchester United’s current set-piece takers.