Arsenal star Piero Hincapié has defended their style of play, insisting that they’re not doing anything illegal with their approach.
SportBILD have an interview with the 24-year-old today. He discusses various topics, including the ongoing criticism of Arsenal’s style of play under Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners currently top the Premier League table by seven points after 30 games. Manchester City, in second, can reduce that with a game in hand.
But the title is very much in Arsenal’s hands at this point. Manchester City’s draw last week against Nottingham Forest was seen as handing Arsenal the advantage once more.
Arsenal’s long lead
The Gunners have held top spot for most of the season, spending 147 nights at the top of the table so far. They first took over top spot in October, on Match Week 7, and have remained there since.
That number means little, though, given they spent 248 days leading in the 2022/23 season before finishing second. That’s the record for leading without winning the title.
Indeed, they’ve finished as runners-up for three consecutive seasons, a record they are desperate to break this year. That’s led to a more pragmatic approach from Arteta, whose side have the best defensive record in the league.
They also dominate from set pieces, with 22 goals from set-pieces already. That’s seen them break various records, including most goals from corners, most match winning goals from corners and the fastest team to reach 10 goals from set pieces.
Deadly from set pieces
Arsenal
The Gunners are deadly from set piece scenarios, with nearly 38% of their 58 league goals coming from such situations. That has led to criticism, but Hincapié does not agree with it.
“Our will to win makes us perfectionists,” he said.
“We pay attention to the details. Our set-piece strength is talked about all over Europe. That’s the result of daily training with our set-piece coach, Nico Jover. That sounds annoying, but the results mean that every one of us is eager to score from a corner or a free kick.
“The most important thing for me is that we are successful and don’t do anything illegal in the process. You can’t always win beautifully.
“Sometimes you have to play smart and fight to the very edge of what’s allowed. You have to have guts. In the double-winning season, not all of our games were pretty to watch, but we won them.”
Invincibles difference
Of course, the problem for Arsenal is that their history dictates you can win playing ‘beautiful’ football.
The last side to win the title for the club, the Invincibles, is legendary for it’s champagne football and the style they brought to the game.
In comparison, they scored six goals from corners in the Premier League that year.
That drastic gap shows the difference between the two sides, meaning criticism is likely to keep coming even if Hincapié doesn’t want to hear it.
Despite that, there’s going to be little care at Arsenal if and when they secure the title.
🇩🇰 Christian Nørgaard | Arteta meeting over position change
✅ All being taken positively by midfielder
✈️ Denmark manager also travelled to be involved
💬 Arsenal player explains what happened + his stancehttps://t.co/2WdAhZwNzz #afc
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) March 10, 2026