Mikel Arteta has embraced comparisons between Arsenal and Tony Pulis-era Stoke City, particularly regarding their set-piece dominance, describing the remarks as a “big compliment” while cautioning that Arsenal still have room for improvement in that area.
Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Manchester United on Wednesday featured two goals from corners, bringing their total to 22 set-piece goals since the beginning of last season. This follows a Premier League record of 16 set-piece goals in the 2022/23 campaign, matching West Brom’s 2016/17 tally under Pulis.
Former Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov, speaking as a pundit, jokingly referred to Arsenal as the “new Stoke City” during the match analysis.
Arsenal’s set-piece ability has been widely attributed to Nicolas Jover, their set-piece coach, who joined from Manchester City in 2021. Since his arrival, Arsenal have scored more goals from corners than any other Premier League side.
Jover’s meticulous approach has not gone unnoticed, with Gary Neville branding him “the most annoying bloke in football” during a watchalong of the United match on The Overlap podcast. Arteta, however, views such comments as validation. “It is great as we are very good at a lot of things. We take it as a compliment and as fuel to be better,” he said.
“I understood very well what Berbatov said and it was in the best possible way, so we take it as a big compliment,” he remarked. When asked about Arsenal being labelled as ‘corner kings,’ Arteta added: “We want to be the kings of everything. Set pieces, the best in the world. High press, the best in the world. In open spaces, the best in the world. The best atmosphere in the stadium and the best at everything.
“Before it was we didn’t score enough, we were soft at defending, we didn’t have the mentality, we were not physical enough, we didn’t beat big teams away from home for 17 years, 20 years, 22 years. We want to be the best at everything. We want to have the best academy, be the best at player development, recruit the best players, best coaches. That’s the aim.”
Despite their success, Arteta remains critical of Arsenal’s defensive set-piece performance. “We are not perfect at all, even in that department defending set pieces. We conceded three chances and the three of them were coming from those situations, so there is a lot to improve and the margins are always there for us to explore and try to get better,” he explained.
Arteta’s focus on set pieces stems from his playing days under David Moyes at Everton and the challenges Arsenal faced against physical teams like Stoke during Arsène Wenger’s tenure. “I understood at Everton how important they were and how difficult it was for the opposition,” he noted. “When I came here as well, we had a period in some big matches where we suffered and were out. I went to City and immediately realised we had to do something about it.”
As Arsenal prepare to face Fulham on Sunday, Arteta’s determination to perfect every aspect of their game underscores the ambition driving the team forward. For Arsenal, comparisons to Pulis’s Stoke are less a point of ridicule and more a marker of their evolution into a versatile and formidable side.