In the 2021/22 Premier League, high pressing was not just a tactical fashion; it was a direct engine for shots, territory and set‑pieces. Teams that consistently won the ball back high up the pitch also tended to produce more chances and force more corners, creating a recognisable profile that bettors could use when targeting goal and corner markets.
Why Pressing Naturally Links to Chances and Corners
Aggressive pressing compresses the pitch toward the opponent’s goal and increases the number of times a team wins possession in advanced zones, known as high turnovers. When those turnovers occur within 40 metres of goal, as the Premier League defines them, they frequently end in shots, blocked efforts and deflections, all of which boost xG and corner counts. Sky’s trend review notes that high turnovers had been rising for four seasons by 2021/22, with Liverpool, Manchester City and Brighton leading the list that term, underlining how front‑foot defending became a major source of extra chances.
The High-Pressing Landscape in 2021/22
Pressing analysis for 2021/22 identifies Liverpool, Manchester City and Brighton as the top three sides for total high turnovers, with Liverpool recording 443, City 378 and Brighton 377. Chelsea and Leicester also ranked strongly, with Chelsea posting a league‑high seven goal‑ending high turnovers and Leicester six, demonstrating how structured pressing traps translated directly into goals. At the same time, Southampton’s narrow 4‑4‑2 under Ralph Hasenhuttl produced 57 shot‑ending high turnovers, the second‑highest figure, confirming that their counter‑press was a major driver of chance volume.
How Liverpool, City and Brighton Turned Pressing Into Territory and Corners
Liverpool’s 2021/22 campaign is a clear example of pressing powering both chance creation and set‑piece volume. The club’s review notes that they led the league with 443 high turnovers, repeatedly winning possession within 40 metres of the opponent’s goal, while a set‑piece analysis highlights that they and City jointly topped the division with 15 set‑piece goals, including from corners. That combination—frequent regains high up the pitch and heavy use of wide delivery from Trent Alexander‑Arnold and Andy Robertson—naturally pushed both shot counts and corner numbers upward, giving Liverpool a profile where over‑corners and over‑goals could be justified against weaker teams.
Brighton’s pressing under Graham Potter, described in the pressing report as “exceptionally strong” in midfield traps, produced 377 high turnovers, only slightly fewer than City’s 378. The analysis explains how Brighton’s 5‑5 press used four forwards and a late‑arriving midfielder to ambush passes into midfield, forcing regains that quickly turned into attacks and, by extension, more shots and corners. For bettors, that meant Brighton’s games often featured sustained pressure phases and recurring set‑piece situations despite their relatively modest reputation, making corner and “chance” markets more interesting than their badge alone suggested.
High Press, High Turnovers and the Corners Connection
While pressing data tracks high turnovers and shot‑ending turnovers rather than corners directly, the mechanisms that produce these turnovers also tend to generate corners. When teams force opponents to play out under pressure, hurried clearances and blocks in wide areas translate into outswinging or inswinging corners, especially for sides like Liverpool that deliberately target the box from set‑pieces and recorded the league’s highest number of set‑piece shots. League‑wide corner stats show that possession‑dominant, wing‑focused teams such as City and Liverpool habitually sit near the top of corners‑for tables, reflecting how pressing and territorial play push opponents back and accumulate set‑pieces over 90 minutes.
From a bettor’s perspective, those dynamics matter when scanning markets with a high‑pressing team involved. In matches where one of these sides faces a weaker outfit likely to struggle in build‑up, the expectation of frequent high turnovers and sustained attacks logically raises the probability of both high shot totals and above‑average corner counts. When exploring opportunities on a sports betting service like ufabet, the practical question becomes whether its corners and goals lines still sit near generic league averages or whether they have been shifted fully to reflect the pressing data; only when the lines lag behind the underlying intensity and set‑piece threat does a structured edge on overs or related markets appear.
Table: Pressing-Heavy 2021/22 Teams and Their Chance/Corner Profiles
To clarify which teams combined aggressive pressing with strong chance and corner creation, it helps to summarise the standout examples identified in the pressing and season‑review analyses.
| Team (2021/22) | High-turnover profile | Chance / set-piece traits | Betting-relevant interpretation |
| Liverpool | Led the league with 443 high turnovers. Joint‑top for goal‑ending high turnovers (7) with Chelsea. | Joint‑top for set‑piece goals with City (15), highest number of set‑piece shots (166). | High turnover of pressure into chances and corners; overs on corners and team‑goals often had structural support in mismatches. |
| Manchester City | 378 high turnovers, second only to Liverpool. | Territorial dominance and repeated final‑third entries, strong set‑piece record. | Consistent pressure and wide attacks pushed corners up; opponents rarely sustained enough possession to match corner counts. |
| Brighton | 377 high turnovers, third in the league. | Midfield pressing traps created frequent regains and sustained attacks. | Despite modest finishing, volume of pressure increased shots and corners, making them more “over‑corners friendly” than reputation implied. |
| Southampton | 57 shot‑ending high turnovers, second‑highest. | Narrow 4‑4‑2 counter‑press produced end‑to‑end passages and many attempts from turnovers. | Games could swing into high‑event, transition‑heavy contests, boosting both chance volume and potential corner counts. |
This table shows how the cause—high pressing and high turnovers—created an outcome of sustained attacking pressure and set‑piece volume, with the impact that certain teams’ matches were structurally more likely to produce high corners and shot counts than generic league fixtures. Bettors who recognised those profiles early were better placed to judge whether corner and goal lines truly reflected each team’s pressing output.
Situational Factors That Strengthen or Weaken the Press–Corner Link
Pressing intensity and its impact on corners are not constant; they vary with opponent style, match context and squad state. Against teams that prefer long balls and early clearances over short build‑up, high pressing generates fewer orchestrated traps and more aerial duels, which can sometimes lower the number of controlled wide attacks that lead to corners, even if the pressing itself remains aggressive. In congested fixture periods, coaches may dial back extreme pressing to preserve legs, reducing high turnovers and, with them, some of the extra chances and corners those routines normally create. For bettors, reading line‑ups, fatigue and opponent tactics is therefore critical before assuming that every match involving a pressing giant will deliver the same corner profile as season averages.
In parallel, high pressing can backfire in specific contexts: against technically strong build‑up teams that can play through pressure, the pressing side may end up chasing more than regaining, losing both energy and territory. That shift reduces the frequency of high turnovers and may actually increase corner counts for the opponent instead, especially if the pressing team is forced back and must clear low crosses and cutbacks behind their own goal. Recognising when a pressing team is facing a rare opponent capable of escaping its traps helps avoid overestimating their usual edge in chance and corner creation.
H3: Comparing High-Press Profiles With Low-Press, Deep-Block Teams
High‑press teams and low‑press, deep‑block sides produce different statistical environments, which in turn change the way corners and chances behave. High‑pressers like Liverpool or Brighton win possession high and push play into the final third, generating more shots from turnovers and more blocked crosses and shots that roll into corners. Deep‑block teams concede territory and often face a greater volume of shots, which can also yield many corners against, but their own pressing is limited, so they contribute less to the “corners for” side unless they counter frequently. For betting, that means high‑press vs mid‑press games often point toward total‑corners overs, while high‑press vs deep‑block contests can produce asymmetric corner counts that favour handicap‑style corner bets instead.
Summary
In 2021/22, the Premier League’s most aggressive pressing teams—especially Liverpool, Manchester City, Brighton and, in their own way, Southampton—turned high turnovers into sustained attacking pressure, extra shots and an elevated supply of corners. Official pressing data shows Liverpool leading the division with 443 high turnovers, City and Brighton close behind, while set‑piece analysis confirms that Liverpool and City converted that pressure into league‑leading set‑piece goals and shot volumes. For bettors, recognising that pressing behaviour drives both chances and corner counts meant that matches involving those sides could justify over‑corners and pressure‑based markets when context and prices aligned, transforming a tactical trend into a structured part of a broader betting plan.
