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Adams hailed Arsenal’s ‘brilliant’ tactics that caused havoc for United (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal legend Tony Adams has admitted his old side ‘got away with one’ in their victory over Manchester United.
The Gunners closed the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to seven points with a 2-0 win over Ruben Amorim’s side at the Emirates on Wednesday night.
Flawless corner kick routines caused havoc in the United defence with Jurrien Timber and William Saliba capitalising.
Arsenal took more shots from corners than in open play (seven to six) and had another cleared off the line by Manuel Ugarte during the relentless aerial bombardment.
Dimitar Berbatov labelled Arsenal ‘the new Stoke’ during last night’s coverage with former captain Adams hailing the aggressive nature of the ‘brilliant’ set pieces their opponents currently have no answer to.
For the first Arsenal goal, Timber appeared to push Rasmus Hojlund out of the way to get space to glance home with Adams agreeing there may have been a foul.
‘The cross from Declan Rice is on a six pence every time, he must be practising,’ Adams told Premier League Productions.
Arsenal FC v Manchester United FC - Premier League
Timber opened the scoring on Wednesday night (Picture: Getty)
‘And it is the little guy who is scoring, the delivery is that good it doesn’t matter if you’re Timber. There is a little push at the near post he has got away with and he’s flicked it in.’
He continued: ‘There’s a little touch from Timber, he has pushed him out of the way and it is a little flick into the goal. Referees are not blowing up this stuff up now. But I am not complaining, this is brilliant.’
On Saliba’s goal, Adams added: ‘Look at Saliba, he ends up scoring and he’s pushed him. The referee has let it all go. Stop the goalkeeper, pin the goalkeeper, you can’t get out to challenge and they move the defenders around.’
Arsenal have scored 22 goals from corners since the start of last season, more than any other team in Europe with their set pieces tactics causing problems for almost every side they have faced.
‘If I was defending against them I think we are getting to the stage where you would have to block them before they run in and get into that zone,’ Adams said.
‘Keep them out of that zone. I have seen some trying to rugby tackle them to stop them but I come back to the referees again, they are absolutely letting everything go.’
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