Arsenal’s four-point lead at the top of the Premier League table has generated plenty of debate about their playing style, but the Gunners aren’t the ones playing ‘anti-football’.
Arsenal currently sit top of the Premier League, having scored just one goal short of the most in the division, but the team have faced accusations this week that their style of play is ‘boring’ or ‘anti-football’.
The evidence for this appears to be that Arsenal’s games don’t often involve end-to-end football, and the team are scoring a lot of set-pieces. Yet it’s worth looking into exactly why that is.
For a start, Arsenal are simply better than most teams at turning set-pieces into goals. Isaan Khan reports for the Daily Mail that Arsenal’s 10.4% corner conversion rate in 2025/26 is bettered only by Chelsea (10.7%). Both are a long way clear of last season’s best rate (Crystal Palace, 6.4%).
Arsenal aren’t artificially boosting their set-piece numbers by taking so many, the Gunners are just as good as anyone at finishing the chances when they come.
That’s not to say that Arsenal don’t get a lot of corners. No one in the Premier League gets more per game than the 7.44 won by Mikel Arteta’s side.
But the reason for that is that ‘boring’ Arsenal have more touches in the opposition penalty area than any other team in the division. With 320 touches in nine matches, the team are 28 clear of their nearest competitor.
When you have the ball in the opposition penalty area more than anyone else, it stands to reason you win more corners than anyone else. By contrast, only Leeds United are conceding fewer corners per game than Arsenal, because teams don’t get into the Gunners’ penalty area nearly as often.
The simple fact is that teams don’t want the ball when they play Arsenal. The last time the Gunners had less possession than an opponent was in August, 11 games ago. The last time Arsenal had fewer shots than an opponent was on the opening day of the season.
Manchester City came to the Emirates Stadium and recorded their lowest-ever possession figure out of Pep Guardiola’s 600+ games in charge of the team, taking just five shots to Arsenal’s 12.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was booked for time wasting during that match, Joelinton was booked for the same with Newcastle United the following week. Arsenal haven’t had a player booked for time wasting in the Premier League since the opening day.
Manchester United are the only team to have a greater percentage of possession in their game against Arsenal than their usual average. The other eight teams the Gunners have faced in the league have all given up more of the ball than they normally would, including Liverpool and Manchester City.
Yet no team has had fewer touches in their defensive third than Arsenal this season, either in total or as a percentage.
Teams aren’t watching Arteta’s side play it around in their own penalty area, they’re giving the Gunners possession and backing off as far as they can.
Opponents don’t outshoot Arsenal, they don’t have more of the ball, they don’t try to get their side up the pitch, they just try to stop Arteta’s side from scoring. Arsenal aren’t playing anti-football, but for the last couple of months pretty much every opponent has played anti-football against them.
If Arsenal games are boring you, take that up with the teams exerting all of their efforts to try and make it that way.