Mikel Arteta reveals how 10-year obsession has turned Arsenal into set-piece kings

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Mikel Arteta says Arsenal becoming the Premier League’s set-piece kings has been “ten years in the making.” Arsenal have championed goals from free kicks and corners and have scored ten in 12 matches across all competitions this season.

That has helped them go top of the table and also win all three Champions League games as they have also become the first team in all five major European leagues to score ten from set-pieces. Arteta and his set-piece coach Nicolas Jover have made opposing defences shake with fear whenever Arsenal put the ball in the mixer.

But the Arsenal manager revealed that he first started looking at improving set pieces while he was still in the final year as a player at the Emirates while doing his coaching badges in 2015.

Then Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola charged Arteta with improving his set pieces when the ex-Arsenal midfielder joined his coaching staff and duly took Jover with him to the Etihad.

Arteta was actually nicknamed “coach” by his Arsenal teammates because he was obsessed with coaching and becoming a manager. The Gunners boss has become a trend setter now with set pieces as even England manager Thomas Tuchel revealed that he is following suit.

Arteta said: “Ten years ago I said, I think it has to be, I wasn't here, but ten years ago I said it's a massive thing to do that and I started to have a vision and try to implement a method and try to be surrounded by the best people to deliver that.

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“It's using those moments. And if you cannot generate other moments, make sure that you use these ones. But I think it's something that relates as well to the culture of the coach, the environment and then the players that you have.

“And everything has to be aligned. If you want to have a certain approach to the way you play the game, for example, we are super aggressive, you better sign and educate and train situations when the team can deliver that.

“Because if not, if you want to be a team that deals really well with high press, you’d better be the best in the world at tracking back, because at some point, the opponent is going to break your press.

“So you have to have players that are able to deliver that. So it's all in relation to what you want to do. You have to acquire and have and evolve the players in that direction. Football is like this. Football doesn't stop. It's all connected.”

Arteta also recalled how instructive his three years on the City staff were before he became Arsenal manager in December 2019.

It was at the Etihad where Arteta learned how important small margins - and also set-pieces - could be as an extra weapon in a team’s armoury. Even when it comes to Arsenal being the best at creating “chaos.”

Arteta added: “I went to City with the best manager in the world and I could see where we could have improvements. It was clear because at some point I was doing that and I wasn't the best person in the world to do it.

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“So if I'm not the best person in the world to do it and the best method to do it, there are ways to improve it. And you could see that straight afterwards when it started to happen. But it's not only obsessed with that, I'm the same.

“The defensive part, in every transition, I want to be the best when it comes to chaos, I want to be the best. When it comes to position and attack, the best. When it comes to low blocks, the best.

“And that's the eagerness to constantly find ways to develop your team, to evolve your team and to give your players more tools to be more unpredictable and especially more efficient. That's it.”