Arsenal's goals from corners: How can Premier League rivals stop Mikel Arteta and Nicolas Jover's set-piece tactics?
Arsenal have scored 33 goals from corners since the 2023/24 season - no other Premier League side has more than 20; the Gunners scored from their first set-piece of the season at Man Utd - and two more against Leeds made it three goals from five corners this season
Saturday 23 August 2025 20:23, UK
Arsenal have won five corners this season, they have scored from three of them.
Scoring from their first set piece of the season to win the game at Manchester United was a flex of their muscles - but Jurrien Timber scoring from two corners in a 5-0 win over Leeds is simply ludicrous. "Arsenal's corner and goals count is really special," said Gary Neville on Saturday.
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It is a common sight. Since the 2023/24 campaign, the Gunners have scored 33 goals from corners. No other Premier League team has more than 20 in that time, while Arsenal also have 10 more corner goals than any other major team in Europe.
Arsenal have been regarded as set-piece experts for around 18 months now - but this early flurry of corner goals at the start of this Premier League season is a message to their rivals: put plenty of time and focus on trying to stop this, or they will hurt you.
So how can their Premier League rivals even start to think about stopping them?
Break up their timing
Arsenal's corner routine begins like any other - with the taker, normally Rice or Bukayo Saka, putting their arm up in the air so the players in the middle know when to start their combinations.
But what those players in the middle are going to do is more unpredictable. Arsenal have had multiple routines but also multiple starting positions. Sometimes the Gunners players group together at the back post but at Old Trafford on Sunday, they all gathered on the edge of the box.
The reason why is to make short runs into the box and create momentum for when the ball arrives in the danger zone. But it also creates a bit of chaos, with opposition players being blocked off from trying to defend the ball.
"They've done it for a long period of time in terms of the timing - when they start moving, how they move, when they get to the dangerous area, whether it's the front or the back post," set-piece coach Marc Orti Esteban told Sky Sports.
Until last season, Orti Esteban was a set-piece analyst at Brentford before leaving to oversee New England Revolution's dead-ball department. Working under Keith Andrews, he was tasked with trying to work out how to stop Arsenal from set-pieces.
And his best advice to try to stop that Arsenal chaos? Control it.
"It's all about breaking their timing and what they do - they are very good at that," Esteban said.
"If you can stop that with physicality, stopping their runs, making it hard for them to move like they want to do, then you have a better chance of defending that situation.
"It's about being smart and knowing that they can deliver to the front or the back post. So you have to be covered in those areas."
Teams have tried that in the past, putting a big focus on trying to halt Gabriel's run towards the penalty box. The Brazilian defender - who has 17 goals from set-pieces in the last five years - can sometimes be seen hovering in the middle of the penalty area, before attacking the ball with a run from deep.
The only issue with using physicality is Premier League referees are clamping down on that this season. There will be stricter punishments for tugging players back in the penalty area. "I would expect this time next year for there to have been a few more penalties given for holding offences than what we've seen this year," said Howard Webb before this season started.
Arsenal will have to focus on that too, as their 'blocking' of defenders will be scrutinised a lot more. So it shows the importance of being street-wise when the Gunners get corners.
The importance of a strong goalkeeper
One of those 'street-wise' moments that Arsenal and their opponents have to monitor is how the Gunners players affect the opposition goalkeeper - a factor Manchester United found out on Sunday.
Goalkeeper Bayindir was deemed at fault for Calafiori's goal, but there was also some clever play involving William Saliba, with the Arsenal defender leaning into the United shot-stopper.
Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri was also stuck by Saliba for Timber's first goal on Saturday. "The goalkeeper can't come because of the bodies around him," said Neville on co-commentary duty.
Despite the PGMOL looking to clamp down on holding in the box, VAR deem Saliba's interventions as normal football contact.
With Arsenal looking to take advantage of every marginal gain a corner brings, this was another rule they managed to bend in their favour - especially given how they like to attack the six-yard box during corners. And it is not the first time Arsenal have tried and benefited from that tactic.
In the 3-2 north London derby win at Spurs in 2024, Ben White was seen doing a similar trick on Guglielmo Vicario - giving the Italian goalkeeper a shove - a bounce off the shoulder - so he would be unable to claim the cross, allowing Kai Havertz to nod in a close-range header.
It has not always worked, especially involving White. The England international tried a similar tactic in a 1-0 win at Leicester in 2023 - holding onto goalkeeper Danny Ward's glove in the hope that VAR would not catch it. But when Leandro Trossard found the net, it was spotted.
Bending the rules? Yes - but it is something that is seen a lot in Arsenal's corner routines. So a strong goalkeeper is a must.
Does clearing the penalty area work?
Last season, some teams tried a new defensive corner tactic against Arsenal to help their defenders get to and clear the ball, including their goalkeeper.
Crystal Palace, Brighton, Monaco and Spurs all left two or three players up on the halfway line, meaning Arsenal were forced to leave a few players back. That not only decreases the number of players in and around the penalty box but also creates space for goalkeepers to come and claim the ball.
"Usually they come with six running into the six-yard box, causing a lot of noise and trouble" Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner said last season. "They are blocking, pushing, and then it looks like every single ball comes to the spot where they expect it.
"The Man Utd game against Arsenal [where Arsenal scored twice from corners in a 2-0 win], United had eight players in the six-yard box to defend, and I think they could have conceded five.
"We wanted that the box is clearer. It was."
The only problem? Arsenal still managed to score from a corner against Palace through Havertz. That was because there were fewer defenders on hand to react to the German scoring after the ball came off the post. "We defended the first ball but we didn't defend the second ball, the rebound," said Glasner.
"I think it was not an issue of having three players up, it was just that we have to be so sharp in every situation."
After Palace tried that tactic, Spurs came to the Emirates and attempted something similar - but ended up conceding a goal from a corner themselves as Gabriel forced a Dominic Solanke own goal. It has not been seen again.
So no matter what teams end up coming up with to foil Arsenal, the Gunners keep on scoring. Leeds and their head coach Daniel Farke's side putting a focus on set-pieces themselves this summer, signing solely players who are 5ft 11in and above to be strong at set pieces.
But if they still cannot stop Arsenal from corners - who else can?
