Chelsea legend Didier Drogba believes he knows the simple secret to stopping Arsenal from scoring from set-pieces.
Over the past few years, the Gunners have excelled in set-piece situations, leading Europe with 22 goals from corners since the previous season began.
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In their recent 2-0 victory over Manchester United, which kept them firmly in the Premier League title race, both Jurrien Timber and William Saliba scored from corners, prompting Arsenal fans to chant “set-piece again, ole, ole, ole.” ..Continue Reading
The precise corner deliveries from Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka have become a formidable weapon for Mikel Arteta’s side, especially under the guidance of set-piece coach Nicolas Jover.
When asked to explain his success delivering corners, Rice said: “It’s just seeing clips and I know the weight I need to put on the ball and it’s just about repetition. I put a few good balls in [against Man Utd] and could’ve had a couple of assists.
However, Drogba, known for his 104 Premier League goals and his reputation for physicality and aerial prowess, has suggested what he sees as a straightforward way to halt the Gunners’ success.
Commenting on an Instagram post about Arsenal’s corner routines by the ‘footballmeta’ account, Drogba wrote: “Put someone in front of the corner taker 10m away and tell him to jump so the corner taker won’t be able to deliver a good ball.
“Then you ask your goalkeeper to take all the sloppy balls and ask your defenders to protect him.”
He added a shrugging emoji to his comment, implying he believes that curbing their effectiveness is not a major challenge.
Arsenal sit third in the Premier League standings, trailing leaders Liverpool by seven points. Arteta, however, was slightly irked by the notion that his team is evolving into a set-piece-focused side, and any parallels with Tony Pulis’s Stoke team of the late 2000s and early 2010s are certainly premature.
“We want to be very dangerous and very effective from every angle and every phase of play,” said Arteta after the win over Manchester United.
“Last year we scored the most goals in the history of this football club, not because of only set-pieces but because of a lot of things that we have. We want to create individual and magic moments, too.”
