Arsenal invincible defends Arteta’s side following set-piece criticism | OneFootball

Arsenal invincible Jeremie Aliadiere defended Mikel Arteta’s current Gunners side and their use of set-pieces to win games.

Arteta’s team have scored 16 Premier League goals from corners this season, but came in for criticism from some following their 2-1 win over Chelsea for the way their focus on dead-ball situations.

But Aliadiere thinks they have set a new trend for the rest of the league and says criticism is unjustified.

“It’s not just Arsenal doing long throws, every club are trying to do long throws because they’re all realising, well that’s a plan.

“If we can score and nick goals and nick wins from certain aspects of the game, why wouldn’t we use it? And to be honest, I see clubs now doing exactly what Arsenal are doing. Chelsea, that’s how they scored their goal. Let’s start with Chelsea copying what Arsenal are doing on set-pieces.

“Stick everybody on the goalkeeper, get a good delivery, put it right in their box and all you need is somebody to touch anything. It could be an own goal, it could be anything. And I just feel clubs are starting to copy what Arsenal are doing.”

The Gunners are currently five points clear at the top of the table, having played a game more than Manchester City.

Aliadiere, who spent six years at Arsenal and won the Premier League in 2003/04, was speaking with Hayters via Gambling.com, the home of online gambling comparison in the UK.

He also urged Arsenal’s player to block out the noise going into the title race run in.

“To be honest, I think if you want to be champions and you want to go all the way, you’ve got to block the noise,” he said. “And I think we did that back in our time. But in our time, the world was a different place.

“We didn’t have social media. We didn’t have all that access to people, criticism. So I think these days it’s much tougher to block the noise and to carry on working without listening to criticism.

“But I think Mikel (Arteta) and his staff are doing an amazing job with that. I never see any players that look affected by any criticism. At Arsenal, I’ve been through a few periods of time this season where you just think, ‘oh God, a couple of draws’. Brentford away, Wolves away.

“You just think, ‘oh, is that the period where they’re going to maybe lose it?’ And then no, they bounce back. I just feel it (criticism) can’t be affecting them that much because they always seem to bounce back quite quickly.”