Where does Seb Larsson rank among the best ever Premier League free-kick takers?

James Ward-Prowse is nearing the Premier League for free-kicks, but where does former Sunderland midfielder Seb Larsson appear on the list?

James Ward-Prowse is closing in on some Premier League history after he scored his 17th free-kick in Southampton’s win over Chelsea. One more and he equals David Beckham’s record of 18. Where, though, is former Sunderland man Seb Larsson on the list?

Larsson made 176 Premier League appearances in a six-year spell for Sunderland, scoring 12 goals in total. Not all of those were direct free-kicks, of course.

Sunderland were obviously not the only Premier league team that Larsson played for, though. He also played 103 times for Birmingham in the top flight.

For us, Larsson is remembered for his work-rate, commitment and pointing as much as anything. However, beyond Wearside he is definitely renowned primarily for his set-piece prowess - and it's easy to see why. 

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How many free kicks did Seb Larsson score for Sunderland?

The funny thing about Larsson was that, as good as he was from free-kicks, he was largely inconsistent at them.

He was actually very streaky in that sense. Indeed, in four of his six seasons at Sunderland, he failed to score from a free-kick at all.

In total, Seb Larsson scored five free-kicks for Sunderland in the Premier League. Three of those came in his first season – the 2011/12 campaign.

The Swede then had to wait until 2014/15 before he scored his other two.

Although his tally in the Premier League was five, Larsson scored six free-kicks for Sunderland. The other came in an FA Cup tie at Peterborough in 2012.

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Seb Larsson Sunderland free-kicks

September 18, 2011 – vs Stoke City (H) – 4-0 win
October 16, 2011 – vs Arsenal (A) – 2-1 defeat
December 12, 2011 – vs Blackburn (H) – 2-1 win
January 8, 2012 – vs Peterborough (A) – 2-0 win
November 9, 2014 – vs Everton (H) – 1-1 draw
January 17, 2015 – vs Tottenham (A) – 2-1 defeat

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Where does Seb Larsson rank in all-time Premier League free-kick takers?

Impressively high, you would have to say. As mentioned, David Beckham is the unsurprising gold standard here.

The Man Utd icon scored 18 free-kicks in his Premier League career. James Ward-Prowse is just one away from that tally following his winner for Southampton at Chelsea, although he has played considerably more games to get there.

The next three on the list all have 12 and were all superstars in their day – Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry and Gianfranco Zola. No shame in Larsson behind those three.

Those three, plus Beckham and Ward-Prowse, are the only players in Premier League history who can boast more goals from set-pieces than Larsson, though. The Swede scored six Premier League free-kicks for Birmingham before arriving at Sunderland for a total of 11.

Former Newcastle winger Laurent Robert can match that total and another former Sunderland player, Ian Harte (who is also the agent of current star Jack Clarke) makes an appearance on the list too. He never scored any for Sunderland, though. 

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All-time Premier League top free-kick takers

David Beckham	18
James Ward-Prowse*	17
Cristiano Ronaldo	12
Thierry Henry	12
Gianfranco Zola	12
Seb Larsson	11
Laurant Robert	11
Ian Harte	10
Morten Gamst Pedersen	10
Frank Lampard	0

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