Truth behind the obsession with Arsenal's success from set-pieces and why critics are wrong

On May 19, 2024, Arsenal beat Everton on the final day of thePremier League season, their 28th victory of the campaign, in which they scored their 91st goal.

Mikel Arteta took to the Emirates pitch to address a crowd that had just seen an Arsenal side topple records set by the greatest iteration of the North London club in 2004, and yet falling two points short of the title.

Manchester City accumulated two more points, five more goals and yet another painful blow to a side who had given their all.

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Arteta found a way to extract more from that squad two seasons ago than Arsene Wenger managed from a team with players who would become legendary figures not just at Arsenal but in the sport. But still, it was not enough to win the league.

While Arteta is yet to show the footballing world he can win a title with Arsenal, he has already shown what he can get from a group of players at the highest level.

However, as Arsenal moved six points clear of Manchester City and seven points clear of Liverpool with another 1-0 victory courtesy of another goal born from a set piece, the club could not be facing more apathy about how they have achieved it.

Arteta is questioned in almost every press conference about a supposed reliance on set pieces to win games. Even rival managers like Arne Slot continue to raise the point that these dead-ball scenarios dominate the season’s narrative.

Few would have thought watching the Champions League semi-final defeat by PSG, when Arsenal would adopt a long-throw tactic to no avail, that it would soon become an intrinsic part of how Premier League clubs now operate up and down the table.

The BBC Match of the Day X account posted a table showing the points tally of teams in the league solely from goals from open play. Among its 220,00-plus posts to the site, formerly known as Twitter, this was the first post of its kind in its 14-year existence.

There appears to be almost an obsession with Arsenal’s almost inevitable set-piece threat. Arteta has rightly pointed out that set plays come from the club’s strategy in open play.

"And the other way around," Arteta said when asked about creating set-piece opportunities from open play. "Football is like this. Football doesn't stop. It's all connected. If you want to see the game like this, OK, I don't."

To win a corner or a free-kick, the majority of the time, these situations will have come from an open play scenario. Arsenal have won the most corners of any side in the league all season, with 67, the next closest being Chelsea with 56.

The dominance of having won so many, in a season where 19 per cen of all goals have come from corners, which is a Premier League record at this stage, speaks to both the quality of Arsenal and their understanding of this particular element of the game.

Ironically, Arsenal rank eighth for dead-ball passes per 90 that lead to a shot attempt at 1.89. Yet because their defensive record is so good, with just three goals conceded all season and the lowest expected goals against at 5.28, it becomes the best platform to make these marginal gains even more impactful.