Monaco may have discovered a brilliant tactic to beat Arsenal despite their defeat in north London.
The French team fell behind 3-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday evening. Bukayo Saka scored a brace, while Kai Havertz also found the net late on. Arsenal's victory sees them take an important step towards the knockout rounds of the competition.
And while it didn't hurt their Champions League hopes at all, it could have done some damage in the Premier League. Arsenal have obviously been clinical from corners in recent seasons, thanks in no small part to their regular coach Nicolas Jover.
The Gunners have scored from 22 corners in the Premier League since the start of last season – more than any other side. But Monaco made sure that threat was removed.
As Arsenal prepared for a corner in the second half of Wednesday's match, the visitors effectively left three men down. That forced the Gunners to also take three men out of the box to ensure a counter-attack.
And it seemed to work, as Monaco goalkeeper Radosław Majecki claimed the ball unchallenged. It remains to be seen whether any of the Gunners' Premier League rivals will try to copy the tactic when they come up against them.
Even before Monaco's smart move, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has warned his side that they need to be even better from set pieces. After the draw with Fulham he said: “We can still be a lot better, there are a lot of things that can be improved, even in that area.
“I know that many people see set pieces as something separate. I don't, and I completely disagree with that. I respect it. One is the result of the other.”
Meanwhile, Arteta has also responded to some comments about Arsenal's threat from set pieces. Ex-Manchester United star Dimitar Berbatov claimed the Gunners were the 'new Stoke City'.
He said: “I understood very well what Berbatov said. It was in the best possible way. We will take it as a great compliment, 100 percent.”
Meanwhile, Gary Neville also branded Jover the “most annoying guy in football”. Arteta replied: “We take it as a compliment and as fuel to get better, because even in that area we are not perfect at all.
“Defending set pieces [against Man Utd]We conceded three chances from such a situation. There is still a lot to improve and the margins are always there to explore and try to get better.
“Last year we were the team in the history of this club that scored the most goals. We want more. We have more margins and we can do things better. The defense is exactly the same. The environment is the same. So are we. ” I'm going to try to make it all better.”
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