Arsenal boss Arteta is not worried about relying on set pieces

Mikel Arteta dismissed suggestions that Arsenal were too reliant on possession after their 1-1 draw at Fulham this afternoon.

William Saliba scored Arsenal’s equalizer from a corner, canceling out Raul Jimenez’s first-time strike, pushing in after Kai Havertz had brought down Declan Rice’s delivery.

It was the fourth consecutive game in which the Gunners scored from a corner, and the 23rd time they have done so since the start of last season, the most in Europe’s top five leagues.

More worrying was the fact that their open play xG at Craven Cottage was just 0.3.

Not the result we wanted. Not the result your support deserved.

Thank you for being in the game with all of us, Gooners 👏 pic.twitter.com/X5pZkYaP17

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 8, 2024

Arteta said: “I think it’s a great thing that we can score from set pieces again. We can generate other things, we had other opportunities. For the team to play like this, you have to analyze every phase. Obviously, against a low block, you generate balls and you generate crosses because it’s really hard to attack inside.”

Asked if his team were creating enough chances from open play, he added: “It’s never enough if you don’t score three, four or five.

“We want to improve in absolutely everything we do. If they play 11 or 12 straight balls there, I want to win 11. If it’s 12, then 12. If we win high pressure and let the unit out wide and they want to play, six times, six times. And when we run the game, we want to run the game 100 percent. That’s football.”

Lost Arteta complains about fine margins

With Liverpool off due to the postponement of the Merseyside derby, Arsenal were unable to take full advantage, although Bukaya Saka’s late goal was ruled out for marginally offside.

Arteta said: “It’s a shame we didn’t win, because I think we deserved to win from start to finish. We did almost everything we had to do to win it. But that is the characteristic of the opponents, they score a goal with one opportunity. And then the differences in the league.

“Within a millimeter we could be sitting here with three points after a really strong and dominant performance against a really good team.

“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves. We have to stand up for ourselves. We had a really good game against a really good side. You don’t usually see games like this here. Now we have to keep improving and see what we can do better so that the opponent has zero chance of winning. That’s the goal.”