Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta rues ‘small margins’ but are Gunners too reliant on set pieces?
After Arsenal defeated Manchester United 2-0 in midweek, their corner kick ability was fully demonstrated, with defenders Jurian Timber and Saliba scoring goals respectively.
This has prompted some tongue-in-cheek comparisons with Stoke City, who have mastered all forms of set pieces in the top flight under Tony Pulis.
Arteta said comparisons with Stoke were a “huge compliment” and his tactics paid off again when Saliba equalized. It was Arsenal’s 23rd goal from a corner kick since the start of last season, more than any other team in Europe’s major leagues.
Arsenal had 39 minutes plus stoppage time to find the winning goal, but in reality they rarely threatened Fulham’s goal in the air.
However, Arteta disagreed when asked whether the Gunners were too reliant on scoring from set pieces.
“We should have scored from different ways as well because we had some good chances,” the Arsenal boss told BBC Sport.
The Gunners’ expected goals (xG) for the game at Craven Cottage was 2.0, meaning they could reasonably expect to score two goals from the chances they created.
But looking at the Gunners’ expected goals in open play (excluding chances created from free kicks and corner kicks), the story is slightly different.
At Fulham, the Gunners’ expected goals average in open play is just 0.3, their second-lowest result of the season behind last season’s 0.18. 2-2 draw with Manchester City September at the Etihad Stadium.
Throughout the season, Arsenal have an expected goals against rate of 15.9 from open play in 15 Premier League games, which would put them 10th in the league.
In these 15 games, the Gunners have had an xG of 1.0 or less on 10 occasions.
A total of 27 goals were scored in the Premier League this season (excluding penalties), 9 of which came from set kicks, accounting for 33.33% of the total goals.
In the Premier League this season, only Nottingham Forest (35.3%), Crystal Palace (38.5%) and Everton (57.1%) have a higher proportion of non-penalty goals from set pieces.
Asked at a press conference whether his side had created enough chances in the game, Arteta replied: “If you don’t score three, four or five, it’s never enough.”
Chelsea’s 4-3 victory over Tottenham means that the Blues have surpassed Arsenal and ranked second, 4 points behind Liverpool.
“We have a really good momentum, the team is playing well and winning a lot of games and we want to do it again. The 100 per cent performance is there,” Arteta said.
“The odds of winning are very high but this is football and the margins are so small.”
