Mikel Arteta dismissed suggestions that Arsenal were overly reliant on set-pieces after their 1-1 draw with Fulham this afternoon.
William Saliba scored Arsenal's equalizer from a corner kick, canceling out Raul Jimenez's opening lead, after Kai Havertz brought down Declan Rice's pass.
This was the fourth match in a row in which the Gunners scored from a corner kick, and the 23rd time they succeeded since the start of last season, the most in the five major leagues in Europe.
Even more worrying is the fact that their open play xG at Craven Cottage was just 0.3.
Not the result we wanted. Not a result that deserves your support.
Thanks for being in the game with all of us, Gooners đź‘Ź pic.twitter.com/X5pZkYaP17
– Arsenal (@Arsenal) December 8, 2024
Arteta said: “I think it's great that we can score again from a set-piece. We can generate other things, and we had other chances. For a team to play like this you have to analyze every phase. Obviously against low blocks, you can create set-pieces and create Crossing because it's really difficult to attack inside the pitch.
Asked if his side were creating enough chances from open play, he added: “It's never enough not to score three, four or five.
“We want to get better at absolutely everything we do. If they play 11 or 12 direct balls there, I want to win 11. If it's 12, then 12. If we win with high pressing and we launch the unit wide and they want to play, six times, six times “When we manage the game, we want to manage the game 100%. This is football.”
Arteta gutted, bemoaning the fine margins
With Liverpool not playing due to the postponement of the Merseyside derby, Arsenal failed to take full advantage, although they did have Bukayo Saka's late goal ruled out for offside.
Arteta said: “It's a shame we didn't win the title, because I think we deserved to win from start to finish. We did almost everything we had to do to win it. But that's the quality of the opposition, they get one chance to score a goal. And then the league margins.” like that.
“For millimetres, we could have been sitting here with three points after a really strong, dominant performance against a really good team.
“We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have to defend ourselves. We played really well against a really good team. You don't usually see this kind of game here. Now we have to keep improving and look at what we can do even better.” The opponent has no chance of winning the match, that's the goal.”
