Former Stoke City boss Tony Pulis has offered a theory on how to stop Arsenal's set-piece prowess under Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners' two goals from corners during Wednesday's win over Manchester United continued their excellent set-piece record. According to Opta, Arsenal have scored 22 goals from corners since the start of 2023/24, more than any other team across Europe's big five leagues.
Arteta's team have scored five more goals than Bayer Leverkusen in second and seven more than the next highest in the Premier League, Manchester City. The Gunners' set-piece record has led to comparisons with Stoke under Pulis, whose team would often represent the biggest goalscoring threat from corners.
And the Welshman has now offered his take on Arsenal's set-piece skills. The 66-year-old has shared his view on how opposition teams could counteract the threat Arteta's side pose from set pieces.
"I think if you're breaking it down, the quality of corner kicks that Arsenal provide for people to attack is fantastic," Pulis said on BBC 5 Live, via StokeOnTrentLive.
"The quality is good. But also, a lot of goals I've seen, they have scored against zonal marking. We always used to hope and pray that teams would zonal mark against us because you've got people standing and jumping. If you watch Arsenal, they all feed back to the back post and then they run - and a running jump v a standing jump, there's not many people who will beat you.
"Teams have got to look at it differently. I would go man for man and I'd have a space man if I could, I'd get Andy Carroll back in and sit him in that space. He used to head battleships out of the water, Andy. He would clear a few of them for me."
On the value of corners, he added: "They get it now. What I would say, and I want to make this clear, is that I think for corners - and we were very, very good at set plays at Stoke - but for corners, it was one season at West Brom when we scored the highest number of goals (from corners).
"All the teams I've been at, most have been good at set plays, which is such an important part of the game, as Arsenal are showing, and I think it's coming more into fashion now with people having set play coaches up and down the country. It's taken them a while to work it out but it looks as though the penny has dropped."
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