Oh how the Arsenal fans used to dread a corner or a free kick that was not in a position for a shot. It did not even matter that much whether the attacking advantage when to the other side or us because there was usually more chance of Arsenal conceding a goal from a corner than scoring one.
Over the last year or two the Gunners have become a lot better at defending set pieces, partly I think because our individual players and the team in general is better now and partly because of the influence of our assistant manager Steve Bould has on the training ground. I´m sure that it was part of his remit when Wenger gave him the job to bolster up our defensive strength.
That has been a big help and now it looks like Arsenal have been working hard on the other side of set pieces as well. The Everton game highlighted this because almost every corner or free kick into the box looked dangerous. Our second goal came from a whipped free kick of course and with the man who took it, Cazorla and his German team mate Ozil finding their range, Arsenal have something to work with and that encourages the players to get into the box.
Would you believe that 17 percent of Arsenal´s EPL goals this season have come from set pieces, according to the stats on whoscored.com? When you remember that we are yet to get a penalty that is quite significant and is the latest string added to our bow, so are the Gunners almost the complete package now?