Arsenal displayed their set piece prowess during their 2-0 win over Manchester United on Thursday. Ahead of the side’s trip to Craven Cottage on Sunday, where the Gunners will face Fulham, Mikel Arteta has claimed his side is striving to be the best in the world in all aspects of the game, not just set pieces.
“Well we want to be the kings of everything, on set pieces, the best in the world, on high press the best in the world, attacking in open spaces, the best in the world. Best atmosphere and stadium, the best at everything. Before it was we didn’t score enough, we didn’t challenge, we didn’t win big games for 20 years. We want to be the best at everything,” he said.
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“The best academy, the best individual development for players. We want to be the best of the best. Recruit the best players, the best coaches, that’s the aim,” said Mikel Arteta in the pre-game conference.
Goals by Jurrien Timber and William Saliba, both of which came in the second half through corners, saw Arsenal hand Manchester United their first loss of the Ruben Amorim era. The Gunners sit seven points behind league leaders Liverpool and have flown out of the gates ever since the end of the November international break.
Arsenal’s recent success from set-pieces saw the team being compared to that of Stoke City, who were known for scoring from set-pieces under the tenure of Tony Pulis, by former Man Utd striker Dimitar Berbatov. “As we joked, Arsenal are the new Stoke City, depending on set pieces that can give you the win. Like it did today,” said Berbatov after the game on Amazon Prime Video.
The Gunners boss took the comments lightly and claimed the comparison was a compliment. “I understood very well what Dimitar Berbatov said, I was in the best possible way. We take it as a big compliment [because Stoke were so good at it],” Arteta added.
