Mikel Arteta says he isn’t concerned whether Arsenal score from open play or set pieces — to him, there’s no difference.
The Gunners’ rise to the top of the Premier League, along with three straight wins in the Champions League, has been fuelled by their set-piece prowess. It’s an area led by Nicolas Jover, the specialist recruited from Manchester City in 2021 to transform Arsenal’s approach with finely tuned routines that continue to outfox opponents.
Atletico Madrid were the latest victims on Tuesday night – Gabriel Magalhaes opened the scoring from a Declan Rice free-kick before the same pair combined again for Viktor Gyokeres to complete a 4–0 rout.
While supporters have embraced Arsenal’s dead-ball mastery – a throwback to the George Graham era and now celebrated with its own chant – some critics worry about an overreliance on set pieces.
Asked if he’s concerned Arsenal have only scored five goals from open play this season, Arteta replied: “No, not at all, because I don’t see football like open play and set pieces. I see the game in a different way.”
He added: “Football is like this [connected]. Football does not stop. It’s all connected. If you want to see the game like this [set piece and open play], okay. I don’t.”
Arteta revealed his fascination with set pieces goes back to his early coaching days.
“Ten years ago, I think it has to be. I wasn’t here but ten years ago I said it’s a massive thing to do that, and I started to have a vision and try to implement a method and try to be surrounded by the best people to deliver that.”
During his time as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City, Arteta initially oversaw dead-ball work himself but soon realised the need for a dedicated expert. He brought in Jover, then at Brentford, and later reunited with him at Arsenal after Andreas Georgson’s departure.
“I went to [Manchester] City with the best manager in the world and I could see where we could have improvements and it was clear, because at some point I was doing that and I wasn’t the best person in the world to do it, so if I’m not the best person in the world to do it and the best method to do it, there are ways to improve it. And you could see straight afterwards when it started to happen.”
Arteta stressed that while set pieces are an important weapon, his ambition extends across all areas of the game.
“I’m not only obsessed with that [set pieces], I’m the same with the defensive part in every transition, I want to be the best. When it comes to chaos, I want to be the best. When it comes to positional attack, the best. When it comes to low blocks, the best.
“That’s the eagerness to constantly find ways to develop your team, to evolve your team and to give your players more tools to be unpredictable and especially more efficient, that’s it.”
Asked why Arsenal’s routines are so effective, Arteta put it down to culture and commitment.
“With work. First of all, creating the culture, giving that part of the game the importance that it has. Understanding that, again, football is evolving and the opponents are behaving against us, that we have to maximise certain things that happen very frequently. So something that happens very frequently has a lot of value to us, so trying to maximise that and be effective.”
He was also quick to stress that being strong from dead balls doesn’t define a team’s style.
“No. No. It’s not about [playing] that football. It’s using those moments, and if you cannot generate other moments, make sure that you use these ones.
“It’s something that relates as well to the culture of the coach, the environment, and then the players that you have, and everything has to be aligned. If you want to have a certain approach to the way you play the game, for example, we are super aggressive, you better sign and educate and train situations when the team can deliver that.
“Because if not, if you want to be a team that do really good high press, you better be the best in the world at tracking back, because at some point, the ball is going to break your press.
“So you have to have players that are able to deliver that. So it’s all in relation to what you want to do. You have to acquire and have and evolve the players in that direction.”
While Arsenal’s attacking efficiency continues to evolve, their defensive solidity has been remarkable. The Gunners have conceded just three goals in 12 games, only one from open play, while a quarter of their opponents haven’t managed a single shot on target.
“We want these kinds of records; we have been getting a lot of them,” said Arteta.
“At the end, we want it to bring the silverware and the trophies. But obviously, the more we can produce, I think the closer we are going to be to achieving what we want to do. That defensive record is very good, but we need to be consistent; it’s only just the start of the season. The aim is to continue improving things, which we can still do a lot of, to do even better.”
Asked whether Arsenal could rival Chelsea’s record of conceding just 15 goals in the 2004/05 Premier League season, he smiled: “You mentioned the word ‘if’ three times in that question.
“And in football, if, if, if is too many ifs. It’s so unpredictable already. So on top of that, you put ifs, then it becomes extremely difficult to focus on the things that we are doing. We are doing consistently well and if we can improve them and let’s see where we are at the end of the season.”
And on the fact that Arsenal have conceded just one goal from open play – Erling Haaland’s in the 1–1 draw with Manchester City – Arteta added: “Obviously it’s something that is super positive. If it’s the first time that has happened in our history, imagine how difficult it is to do it.
“So, yeah, we are very, very happy to be performing at that level in a really important part of the game, especially, and now it’s about continuing doing it.”
Arsenal’s next test comes against Crystal Palace, the reigning FA Cup and Community Shield holders. Despite a recent three-game winless run, they remain a dangerous opponent with a decent recent record at the Emirates. With Jean-Philippe Mateta in fine form and Gabriel Magalhaes a doubt, Arteta’s defence will need to stay sharp.
On stopping the Frenchman, Arteta said: “First of all, it’s what they do as a team, their level of organisation. They have very clear intentions of how they want to attack and which moment they use to attack and to hurt opponents.
“So stopping the source is probably the best way. When you get into certain situations with him, 1v1, you know that that he’s very prolific and he’s been very, very successful, especially recently. So trying to avoid that.”
The Eagles test continues a run of ‘revenge’ fixtures where Arsenal are trying to better their mixed results of last season. Newcastle, West Ham and Fulham have been vanquished in recent weeks.
“If we want a very different outcome, we better do very different things than we did last year [season], especially in these fixtures. So we know what Palace are doing, what Oliver [Glasner] is doing for the football club, and the way they are getting results. So it’s going to be a really tough match, but we’re going to play again in front of our crowd and we are confident if we hit our level, we have a big chance to win it.”
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