BREAKING: PGMOL finally overturned Gabriel Martinelli disallowed goal to be goallll, error occurred in the OFFSIDE ruling, scoreline now changed to 3-0 as Arsenal is now back in second on the table ahead of Chelsea – congratulations Arsenal fans
BREAKING: PGMOL finally overturned Gabriel Martinelli disallowed goal to be goallll, error occurred in the OFFSIDE ruling, scoreline now changed to 3-0 as Arsenal is now back in second on the table ahead of Chelsea – congratulations Arsenal fans
Never in the history of football has a team been such a threat from corners. It is hard to recall danger being created so often. Being created from every sniper-accurate delivery, in fact.
Those corners are Arsenal’s lethal weapon; they are their super-strength and so they struck twice more to deservedly gain the victory that cut Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.
With Chelsea hammering Southampton Arsenal actually dropped down to third on goal difference but, make no mistake, this win over Manchester United was one of their most impressive of this campaign such was the maturity they showed. Once ahead they took a chokehold on the game.
In doing so Mikel Arteta inflicted a first defeat on United’s new head Ruben Amorim in what was his fourth game in charge and his biggest test so far. In fairness Amorim once more rotated his squad, making six more changes to his XI and getting finally fit summer signing Leny Yoro onto the pitch as a second-half substitute for his debut, as he tries to work out what he has inherited. It confirmed again the scale of the task.
Without a doubt United are better-organised under Amorim but, by the end, he was sat with his head in his hands. He had warned that his side would be found out in some games as he bravely implements his ideas and makes changes. That proved prescient as they were found out here.
“The set pieces changed the game,” he said. “Until the set pieces the game didn’t have too many opportunities for both sides, the set pieces killed the game.
“They can put a lot of players near the goalkeeper and it’s almost impossible to fight for the ball but we have to manage to defend them and we already know we have to be better.”
The Arsenal fans sang “corners again ole ole!” and it really is remarkable. They are to corners and set-pieces what Tony Pulis’ Stoke City in their pomp were to long throw-ins and are even more effective.
Such is their accuracy it is like watching some kind of corner simulator on a computer game.
That is not a slight. Arsenal can play. But they can also dog it out and it is now 22 goals from set-pieces since the start of last season, more than any other team in the Premier League.
Much has been made of the involvement of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover who is such a visible presence in the technical area when they are earned. But credit where it is due.
Just how do Arsenal do it? What is astonishing is that opponents almost appear fearful. Arsenal even try and create more tension with Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice walking over slowly to take them. “It’s more just seeing clips and I know the weight I need to put on the ball and it’s just about repetition,” Rice said.
Teams know what is coming but they do not seem capable of stopping it and, for this game, Arsenal remorselessly targeted what they obviously felt was Andre Onana’s weakness under pressure. Their accuracy at pinpointing their delivery into a crowded six-yard area and onto Onana was unerring and he struggled.
Still that does not explain it all. They are a big side. But so too are United. Arsenal’s movement is canny as they line up beyond the far post and break forward but that is not unexpected. They block off. But so do other teams. The delivery is precise – and that is key – but, again, it is not unexpected. And yet teams cannot cope.
“It was one of the best [set-piece performances], we could’ve scored more and I’m very pleased with that,” Arteta said as Arsenal celebrated their 500th game at this stadium.
They even did it without their commander of corners Gabriel Magalhaes, who had created the chaos in the weekend romp away to West Ham United, but was missing through injury. Instead it was two other defenders who scored with Jurrien Timber collecting his first Arsenal goal – and their 100th of 2024 – to break the deadlock and William Saliba adding the second.
Saliba knew little about it as Thomas Partey headed the ball back across goal from beyond the far post – striking his team-mate before flying into the net. But Saliba was in the right area, putting pressure on United. All Partey had done was run forward, then check out and run back and it was enough to out-fox United and create the space.
Before that Timber had rose to beat Rasmus Hojlund at the near post and glance a header. Again it seemed too easy and so devastatingly effective which, of course, is the beauty of its simplicity. Just as the ball went in news filtered through of Liverpool’s draw at Newcastle United.
