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'Once again'- Gary Lineker fires Mikel Arteta clear Arsenal warning in Premier League title race

Former Tottenham striker Gary Lineker has singled out one key area of concern for Arsenal approaching the midway point of the campaign.

The Gunners are currently sat third in the Premier League table. Although it has been a positive start to the season, sat two points above Manchester City, Mikel Arteta's side are six points adrift of leaders Liverpool who have a game in hand after the Merseyside Derby was postponed at the weekend.

Arsenal have only lost twice so far this season with both defeats coming on the road at Bournemouth and Newcastle. They most recently dropped points to Fulham in a 1-1 draw with a late Bukayo Saka goal ruled out for offside.

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Arteta's men have scored 29 goals in the Premier League this season with eight of these coming from set pieces - not including penalties. Since the start of last season, they have scored the most goals from corners across Europe's top-five leagues, but Lineker has some concerns.

He said on The Rest is Football Podcast: "Once again, they [Arsenal] looked really dangerous from set pieces and corners because their delivery is so good.

Bukayo Saka's corner deliveries are becoming a staple of Arsenal's arsenal

Bukayo Saka's corner deliveries are becoming a staple component of Arsenal's play (Image: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

"I actually think Fulham defended them really well, but eventually if you keep getting a perfect delivery, which they do both from Saka when he takes them from the right hand side and [Declan] Rice when he takes them from the left, that eventually an Arsenal player is going to win one of the headers.

"My concern a little bit at the moment with Arsenal is they're not quite scoring the goals without those set-pieces, and they didn't create too many opportunities yesterday. Arsenal really struggled to create much."

Arsenal have scored 18 goals from open play so far this season and although this would still put them above the majority of the league, if you were to compare that statistic to the teams who they're going to be fighting for the title with, they're at the bottom of that ranking.

Chelsea have 27, Liverpool have 23 and City have 22 goals from open play. You can pick out teams from lower positions such as 11th place Tottenham who have 24; even Wolves in 19th have 21.

Many pundits have compared the Gunners to a former Premier League side. Ex-Spurs forward Dimitar Berbatov said on Amazon Prime Sports: "Arsenal are the new Stoke City - depending on set-pieces to give them the win," and Roberto Martinez added: "We all suffered Stoke. I think it is a great credit to remember Tony Pulis."

Stoke City scored 43.1% of their goals between 2008 and 2013 from set-pieces not including penalties.

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