Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday and they missed a huge chance to cut down the gap between them and Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table after the Reds had their game against Everton on Saturday postponed due to bad weather.
The Gunners found themselves behind 11 minutes into the game after Raul Jimenez opened the scoring for the hosts, and they battled back in the second-half, drawing level through William Saliba before Bukayo Saka had a late goal ruled out after VAR ruled Gabriel Martinelli offside during the build-up.
Having scored both of their goals in the 2-0 win over Manchester United on Wednesday from corners, Arsenal continued to threaten from set-pieces at Craven Cottage, with Saliba scoring after Kai Havertz headed the ball back across goal following a corner.
The North Londoners have continued to exploit the height advantage in their team to score from set-pieces, but Gary Lineker is worried about their over-reliance on them.
“My concern, a little bit, about Arsenal is they are not quite scoring goals without those set pieces,” the former England international said on the latest episode of the Rest is Football podcast.
“And they did not create too many opportunities yesterday.”
The Gunners have bagged 22 goals from corners since the start of last season – more than any other Premier League club – and their rivals are starting to work on how to stop them.
Fulham came very close yesterday but eventually succumbed and Arsenal have to get better creatively in the final third.
While their secret weapon has proven effective, they cannot always rely on it.
They return to league action on Saturday when they host Everton, and manager Mikel Arteta and his men must also come up with plans of fashioning goalscoring chances out from open play.