Arsenal bask in set-piece glory as Rosenior rues Chelsea poor discipline in London derby

Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea 

With a combined market value of €480 million, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, Viktor Gyökeres and João Pedro are a collection of names associated with being among the best players in the Premier League. Yet when Arsenal and Chelsea met in the latest London derby at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, it was the set-piece coaches who earned their salaries as the figures responsible for deciding this result.

Arsenal came into this game unbeaten in 10 games against their London rivals and with two victories this season already, Mikel Arteta had both Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior’s number. But with the Premier League title race hanging in the balance, the Spaniard had to ensure all of the ‘I’s were dotted and ‘T’s were crossed. And while their performance perhaps was more dogged than one would expect from potential champions, Arteta knows his side are capable of winning in different ways. His side are second in the form table for a reason, as the graphic shows.

The main threat his side carry are from set-pieces. That’s not to say Arsenal are not capable of playing free-flowing, attacking football and scoring from it – the 4-1 win over Tottenham clearly established that – but it is their speciality. More specifically, their towering centre-backs Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba are almost impossible to mark from corners and that’s where the Blues fell apart. Gabriel met Saka’s in-swinging delivery and nodded it back towards Saliba, who directed it goalwards courtesy of a deflection from Mamadou Sarr.

Arsenal equal set-piece record

Chelsea arguably should’ve had a penalty in first-half stoppage time when Rice appeared to wrap his arms around Jorrel Hato. But the Blues’ complaints died down from the resulting corner when Piero Hincapié headed into his own net from a Reece James delivery. The visitors actually had the better of the second half, with Enzo Fernandez going close. But when they were presented with another corner, Arsenal took full advantage.

This time Robert Sanchez was caught in no man’s land and Jurriën Timber had a simple header from a couple of yards out. It means Arsenal have now scored 16 goals from corners in the Premier League this season, which is the joint-most by any side in a single campaign, alongside Oldham in 1992-93, West Brom in 2016-17, and the Gunners themselves in 2023-24.

Per Opta, it was also the ninth time that Arsenal have scored a match-winning goal from a corner – another league record. Rosenior wasn’t wrong when he said they were “probably the best in the world” from set plays.

Red mist descends again

Speaking of records, Chelsea just cannot control themselves. Rosenior’s men started to lose their discipline with a series of decisions going against them, with Pedro Neto booked for dissent following the goal. Two minutes later, the Portuguese received his marching orders for a second yellow card after bringing down Gabriel Martinelli. The winger could have no complaints, but he continued to remonstrate with referee Darren England. It was Chelsea’s seventh red card of the Premier League season, the most the club have had in a single season since the league was founded in 1992.

Even from there, it wasn’t plain sailing for the leaders, despite having an extra man on the pitch. Alejandro Garnacho’s teasing cross nearly snuck in at the far post and would’ve done without David Raya’s excellent intervention. Chelsea appeared to have struck at the death through substitute Liam Delap, only for Pedro to be caught a yard offside when attempting an acrobatic overhead kick. Arsenal had retreated into their own half, much to the disappointment of their fans, to the point that there was a sense of relief when the final whistle was blown.

But the most important thing isn’t so much how Arsenal win, but that they win – and they did. They emerged out of a difficult test with their five-point lead intact, and even if the ‘Set Piece FC’ taunts will follow, Arteta won’t care one bit if it means them edging closer to a first title in 22 years.