Arsenal corner routines becoming a defining feature of Arteta era

When years from now Arsenal supporters look back upon the Mikel Arteta era, one of the defining images springing to mind will be the unusual thrill of a corner routine perfected.

Fans are used to it by now – are used to rising to their feet for every corner – but not even they had seen anything quite like this before.

Two in-swinging corners, one to the front post and one to the back, beat Manchester United on Tuesday night and took Arsenal to 41 corner goals in the Premier League since the summer of 2021, seven more than anyone else.

It was a relentless onslaught in the second half in particular, when the Gunners awoke from a slumberous first half at Emirates Stadium – just five shots attempted in total across the opening 45 minutes, the fewest in the opening half of a Premier League match this season – to defeat a cagey but solid Man Utd team.

The goals turned an uncomfortably fractured performance into something considerably freer, and by the final whistle Arsenal were in full flow as they closed the gap to Liverpool to seven points with their fourth consecutive win in all competitions.

Arsenal’s corner routines grind Man Utd down

Whether it was Bukayo Saka from the right or Declan Rice from the left, the inswinging Arsenal corners were immaculate nearly every time, so much so that by the 11th or 12th in the second half, supporters were murmuring with excitement while the ball still hung in the air, waiting for an Arsenal contact.

And to think earlier in the game Gabriel’s absence looked like it could be a defining feature at these set-pieces.

Eight minutes into the game Thomas Partey, three yards out, somehow let a brilliant Rice inswinger hit his shoulder and bounce wide.

It was the first near-post corner of many. Every single one was dangerous. Arsenal went again and again, each on the same spot at the front post, with Man Utd awake to the threat but helpless against the sea of red shirts that swept out from the back post into position.

Ruben Amorim said after the match: “You can see in every situation Saka and [Gabriel] Martinelli go outside and they cross. They know if the cross is going well they can score. If it goes for a corner, they can score.”

It tells us Amorim has been thinking deeply about Arsenal’s corners. Still he could do nothing about it.

Surprisingly it took as long as 53 minutes for one to end up in the back of the net, Jurrien Timber glancing a header – again, at the near post – past Andre Onana, and from that point on the pressure valve was released and Arsenal came into their own.

Another near-post corner was cleared off the line, another went close, and then the dramatic shift: Saka played the first far-post dead-ball of the evening and Partey’s free header went in off William Saliba’s backside.

By then Arsenal were in their groove, Martin Odegaard finding space in the pockets and Saka purring, but it wasn’t really the hosts’ minor surge in tempo in the second half that did it, nor was it anything to do with Man Utd’s performance.

It was the unfashionable, route-one method – Arsenal’s not-so-secret weapon, the feature that makes them “the new Stoke” according to pundit Dimitar Berbatov – that won the three points.

Man Utd improve defensively at the expense of attack

Amorim will have hoped for better on-field adaptation to that continual threat, but overall he will not be disappointed with what he saw.

This defeat comes in a week where he has ominously assured Man Utd supporters that “a storm will come”, building on his diplomatic assessment that the shaky performance against Everton was “far from perfect” – and indeed the way United stood their ground suggested they were bracing for a storm.

Their play was balanced if unspectacular, with a clear precedence given to defensive solidity as Man Utd committed few players to attack and looked to play a slow possession game.

They had five shots on goal and just six touches in the Arsenal box.

It was conservative to say the least, but an understandable approach to take considering Amorim is looking to build the foundations before he can implement the more complex parts of his tactical philosophy.

Not that it was a game without experiment. Bruno Fernandes was trialled in central midfield and perhaps suffered creatively as a result, although he was defensively secure, while Leny Yoro’s debut off the bench – coupled with six changes to the starting line-up – hammered home the point that Man Utd are at the beginning of a new era and things are a little raw.

Arsenal could not be further from that point, and indeed winning their fourth consecutive league game against Man Utd for the first time in their history has highlighted the gulf between the two clubs.

They will travel to Fulham on Sunday with renewed hope of chasing down leaders Liverpool; with renewed belief their dead-ball specialism can grind down any opponent and win any game.