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Arne Slot names the one thing Arsenal are ‘world class’ at after Liverpool’s win over Leicester City
Arsenal are one step away from missing out on the Premier League title to Liverpool.
The Gunners were many people’s pick to win the league this term after finishing second, behind Manchester City, in each of the last two seasons.
However, Mikel Arteta’s side have been hurt by injuries all campaign, and they haven’t had any luck with refereeing decisions at times either.
Following the win over Leicester City, Liverpool now need just one win – or Arsenal to lose one game – to mathematically confirm their status as the champions.
At the King Power on Sunday, Arne Slot faced the media after the game, and the Dutchman had something to say about Arsenal and Mikel Arteta.
What Arne Slot said about Arsenal and set-pieces after Liverpool beat Leicester City
Arsenal are one of the best teams in Europe in set-pieces.
Arteta and set-piece coach Nicolas Jover have done an incredible job in recent years, and their hard work behind the scenes has paid off.
Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka’s corners and free-kicks have been sensational all season, and the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes have been very difficult to deal with inside the box.
Slot has been trying to make Liverpool a great side with set-pieces too, but the Reds boss believes he needs a lot more time.
He named Arsenal as a ‘great example’ because Arteta has been at the club for over five years – he feels that is the reason why the Gunners are ‘world-class’ at set-pieces.
Slot said, as per : “The work that we put in is that we’ve trained a lot, we’ve had a lot of meetings about it, we try every single time to improve the details and I think it’s normal for a coaching staff that’s only for nine or 10 months with that team that it doesn’t come from the first week.
“I always say that if I am analysing an opponent, if they have their set-pieces perfect I know the manager is already there for a long time because normally you start with bringing the ball out from the back and how to defend and all these kind of things, and the end of that process is set-pieces.
“And I think Arsenal are a great example of that, where Mikel [Arteta] has worked so long and they are so good in all different phases of the game and now they have become world-class at set-pieces.”
Two big problems have hurt Arsenal in set-pieces in recent months
Arsenal have scored 12 goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this season, which amounts to 21 per cent of their goals.
Over the last few months, however, they haven’t been as big a threat as they were in the first half of the campaign.
One reason could be that teams are putting more work in to stop the Gunners, but the biggest reason is injuries to two key players.
Saka missed over three months, and Arsenal’s corners just weren’t the same from that side of the pitch during that period.
Then, following Saka’s return, Gabriel suffered a season-ending injury, and with that, Arsenal’s biggest threat in the box has been unavailable.
That has clearly hurt the Gunners in that department, but they are still more than capable of scoring from set-pieces against any team.