Opta figures from the opening weeks of the 2025\/26 season underline a clear pattern: Arsenal disrupt the flow of matches and extract tangible gains from set pieces. Across the first seven Premier League fixtures the club spent a combined 40 minutes and six seconds preparing corners, at least 11 minutes and 12 seconds more than any other team in the division.<\/p>\n
That average equates to 45.4 seconds per corner. Only newly promoted Sunderland register a longer pause before delivery, at 49.5 seconds, while Manchester City require just 29.1 seconds to set up a corner. Arsenal also win more corners than any other side in the league and are making those delays count.<\/p>\n
Arteta\u2019s side have already amassed a league-high seven set-piece goals this season, as many as Manchester City managed across the entirety of the previous campaign. The club\u2019s reputation for methodical dead-ball work has been guided by a dedicated set-piece coach, Nicolas Jover, whose touchline gestures and visible influence have even inspired a fan-led mural in north London.<\/p>\n
Opponents have noticed. Last season Liverpool manager Arne Slot called these tactics a \u201cf—— joke\u201d and Manchester City defender John Stones said: “I wouldn\u2019t say they have mastered it, but they have done it for a few years now, so we knew to expect that. You can call it clever or dirty, whichever way you want to put it. But they break up the game, which upsets the rhythm. They use it to their advantage.” Those assessments reflect how delays and tactical stoppages can unsettle rivals.<\/p>\n
Yet Arsenal are not solely a set-piece side. The current Premier League leaders sit seventh for open-play xG with 6.2 and rank fifth for shots with 63, but they have scored five goals from open play, placing 11th in that metric. Their xG per shot is 0.098, ranked 13th. The figures show a team that creates chances but relies unusually heavily on dead-ball situations to convert them.<\/p>\n
Data via Opta. Correct as of Oct. 15, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Opta data shows Arsenal delay corners and dominate set pieces, defining their attack in 2025. Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,192,969],"tags":[299,1012],"class_list":["post-3810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics-stats","category-arsenal","category-premier-league","tag-arne-slot","tag-burnley-style"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}