It used to be that surviving a trip to Stoke City was the ultimate Premier League outing if you could brave the wind coming from the four open corners of the Britannia Stadium and have the strength to withstand the muscularity of the team that played there. test.
That has changed. If former striker Andy Gray once asked if Lionel Messi could do it on a wet Wednesday night in the Potteries, the question now is who can withstand the relentless challenges that the choreographed brilliance of an Arsenal corner brings.
To be at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, when Arsenal inflicted Ruben Amorim's first defeat as Manchester United manager with two more cleverly crafted set-pieces, was to witness corners turned into brutal ballet by the Gunners and their set-piece coach Nicolas Jover.
Corners have become a devilish dance, a kind of bacchanal of holding, wrestling and blocking that gives way to a blur of movement and intent that makes it virtually impossible for Arsenal's opposition to defend.
In the Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money, Paul Newman's character talks about the importance in sport of being 'a student of human movement', and in a more physical way this is the same with an Arsenal corner.
Jover treats it like a science. It's a way of using bodies and movement to create space, with blockers and movers to suffocate the goalie and defenders and open channels for a player to attack the ball, kind of like how NFL offenses try to create channels allowing them to run back to accelerate inside.
At its heart, for all the fascination of the ballet in the six-yard area, is the metronomic excellence of the performance by the corner takers, Declan Rice, of Arsenal, left, and Bukayo Saka, of the right.
The consistency of their performance on Wednesday was too much for United to handle.
Time and again both English players curled their inswinging corners towards the near post or the back post, but always where they wanted to go.
At other clubs, one of the hallmarks of matches is often the groans from the home crowd when an under-hit corner fails to clear the first defender at the near post. That almost never happens at Arsenal. Saka and Rice are simply too good for that.
The two men shared the spoils against United. Arsenal's first goal came from a Rice corner. He crossed the near post all night and this time, like every other time, his angle was perfectly judged, just high enough to avoid Bruno Fernandes and Rasmus Hojlund at the near post, but just low enough to catch Jurrien's fleeting touch Timber to be found. , which flew past goalkeeper Andre Onana.
“There were a couple of corners tonight that were really good,” Rice said. 'Every time I wanted to take the corner, I knew it was going to be a good ball.
'In my head I was just thinking about putting it in the same place and with repetition you end up scoring goals.' The Saka corner that created Arsenal's second goal was also perfectly placed. The ball was hit deep into the back post to fuel the rush of Arsenal players who had overloaded the space.
One of them, Thomas Partey, had no mark. As he headed the ball back into the six-yard box, in a crowd of bodies, the ball bounced in off William Saliba's thigh.
Some have inevitably tried to deal with the effectiveness of Arsenal's tactics by mocking it and suggesting that it is one-dimensional and flirts with what is legal and what is not.
They say Arsenal is the new Stoke because they find that an insult.
Well, Stoke had some good players, but there was no one like Saka playing wide on the right.
Nor did they have a midfield general as smart, creative and perceptive as Martin Odegaard, who has established himself as one of the best players in English football.
That Stoke side under manager Tony Pulis was largely defined by their reliance on the set-piece. It felt like camouflage for their limitations.
That is not the case at Arsenal. Their excellent set-piece is another weapon in an already terrifying arsenal.
It's an aspect of their game to be proud of. Any of their Premier League rivals would love to boast a record close to that.
Arsenal have scored 22 goals from corners since the start of last season, more than any other team in Europe. Bayer Leverkusen is their biggest competitor with seventeen players.
Success brings both envy and admiration. 'As a permanent coach at Arsenal he must be the most annoying guy in football.' “He's a bit annoying, that coach, but he's damn good.” But on Wednesday, Jover and his coaching helped make the difference.
The first half had been tight, cautious and patient, but Arsenal started the second half full of positivity in open play and translated that positivity into set play.
After the match, Amorim mentioned how often Arsenal's players, Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, were prepared to attack their man on the outside, knowing if they got to the byline and crossed the ball or if their cross was blocked and went out. for a corner they would be guaranteed to pose a danger to the opposition.
Amorim meant it as a compliment and it should be taken that way.
The brutal ballet of the Arsenal corner does not define them, but it has become a fascination for the modern game.
They have become the best at what they do, and therefore others will be desperate to emulate them.
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