Mikel Arteta has disclosed that Arsenal’s effectiveness at set-pieces has been a decade in the making.
Since the beginning of last season, Arsenal has boasted the best record in Europe for dead-ball situations, netting 23 goals.
In domestic competitions, their superiority from corners stands out even more, with 37 goals—16 more than any other Premier League team during the same timeframe.
As Crystal Palace prepares to visit the Emirates Stadium this weekend, Arsenal is currently leading the league table, having maintained a perfect streak in Europe with three wins, including a commanding 4-0 victory over Atlético Madrid in their last match.
When asked when he recognized that set-pieces would play a crucial role in his strategy, Arteta responded: “Ten years ago. I wasn’t here, but I knew it was essential, so I started to form a vision and sought to create a method, surrounding myself with the best people to implement that.”
During the 2015-16 season, his final year as a player with Arsenal, Arteta was working on his coaching badges. Following that season, he joined Manchester City, where he met Nicolas Jover, who later became the set-piece coach at Brentford before joining Arsenal in 2021, just under two years after Arteta took over as manager.
Arteta reflected, “I arrived at City with the best manager in the world and I quickly identified areas for improvement. It became evident that while I was involved in set-pieces, I wasn’t the best at executing them.”
“If I couldn’t excel in that area, it was clear that there were opportunities for enhancement. The immediate results following these changes were apparent.”
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Arteta added, “My obsession isn’t limited to set-pieces; I aspire to be the best defensively, in transition, amidst chaos, and in coordinated attacks against low blocks. It’s about continuously finding ways to develop your team, making players more unpredictable and ultimately more efficient.”
Gabriel Magalhães is a doubt for the upcoming match due to a muscular issue that prevented him from training following Tuesday’s win over Atlético.