Arsenal’s charge to finally clinch Premier League glory under Mikel Arteta has somewhat faltered, but one thing that has remained consistent is their prowess from the corner flag.
The Gunners are by no means out of the race, but with Liverpool six points ahead with a game in hand, there is some catching up to do.
A key factor in Arteta’s side staying in the Premier League race has been their corner routines, whipped in perfectly by Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice whenever the opportunity arises. Now, a former Arsenal goalkeeper has revealed how he’d have set up to stop them.
David Seaman reveals how to stop Arsenal’s corners
“The main factor is the near post,” said David Seaman, appearing on his Seaman Says podcast, brought to you by Betway. “You need a really dominant player at the near post who can head anything away and possibly start having people on the post.”
For that role, Seaman selected Patrick Vieira — ranked fifth in FourFourTwo‘s list of the best Premier League midfielders of all time — from the side he played in, with Tony Adams more central, attacking the ball, and Martin Keown or Steve Bould marshalling the back post.
Seaman continued: “It isn’t the free man on the edge of the box that is doing all the damage, it is one header and they’re scoring with it. So, get people on the post and try and counter it like that.”
“My positioning would be in the middle, although if someone came in and marked me, I would take them to the back post and then time it that when the corner taker is running up to take the ball, whether that is Saka or Rice, I would move into the space where I want to be because then it is more obvious that the guy is trying to foul you.”
Set-piece coaches being in the limelight, rushing to the technical area any time there’s a dead-ball situation, may be a new phenomenon, but the job they’re doing is well established.
“With George Graham, we worked on that [set pieces] a lot, but not as much with Arsene Wenger,” the former goalkeeper said. “Under George, he worked on everything — set pieces, defensive drills. I had to kick the ball in a certain area. I took every free kick in our half, and I have to put it in a certain area as we would then crowd that area.”
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, there may be ways to stop some of Arsenal’s corners going in, as Seaman describes, but the pinpoint delivery of Saka and Rice makes it unlikely for any side to stop all of them.
Even through barren spells in front of goal in open play, the Gunners have an almost surefire route to finding the back of the net. Every team now knows exactly what they’re going to do, they’re just powerless to prevent it.