Mikel Arteta reveals 10-year quest for set-piece supremacy as Arsenal thrive | OneFootball

Gunners have become the undisputed kings of utilising dead-ball situations in the Premier League, boosting their title charge

Set-piece specialist: Mikel Arteta has made Arsenal ruthlessly efficient from corners and free-kicks

Action Images via Reuters

Mikel Arteta has revealed that his plan to turn Arsenal into set-piece kings began 10 years ago.

The Spaniard retired in 2016 and joined Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff at Manchester City, where he was initially tasked with working on set-pieces.

Arteta has turned Arsenal into specialists in that area after taking charge in 2019 and the Gunners are the first side in Europe’s top five leagues to score 10 goals from set-pieces across all competitions this season.

Asked when he thought set-pieces would be such a rich source of goals, Arteta said: “10 years ago.

“I said it is a massive thing to do that and I started to have a vision, and tried to implement a method and try to be surrounded by the best people to deliver that.

“I went to see City, with the best manager in the world, and I could see where we could have improvements.

“And it was clear, because at some point I was doing that and I wasn’t the best person in the world to do it.

“So, if I am not the best person in the world to do it and the best method to do it, there are ways to improve it.

“You could see that straight afterwards what started to happen. But it is not only that I am obsessed with.

“I am the same with the defensive part. In every transition. I want to be the best when it comes to chaos. I want to be the best when it comes to positional attack. The best when it comes to low blocks.

“That’s the eagerness to constantly find ways to develop your team, to evolve your team and to give your players more tools to be more unpredictable and especially more efficient. That’s it.”