It is safe to say that, in recent years, Arsenal have not exactly forged ourselves a great reputation as being set-piece specialists. Under Arsene Wenger the Gunners have had plenty of praise for all sorts of different aspects of the game, but defending corners and free kicks has not been one of them.
With Olivier Giroud in the side we have been able to make more use of crosses, whether from open play, corners or free kicks, but it has still not been a very strong part of our make up. That is why I think it was noticeable against West Brom that we seem to be doing a lot better at the minute.
Our goals against the Baggies came from the follow up to a free kick and a penalty conceded when Aaron Ramsey got in after a corner. Not only did Arsenal do better at making the most of our own set-piece situations, we stood up better to theirs.
Only last season West Brom inflicted a painful defeat on us at the Hawthorns with two goals headed straight in from corners and the other after a mix up and scramble from a cross, so maybe the lads have been working hard on this facet of their football, with our old central defensive stalwart Steve Bould the perfect man to drill them on the training ground.
The only goal conceded by us from a set piece this season was scored by Jamie Vardy from a corner on the opening day, but that game also saw Giroud score the winning goal with his head froma corner so we are having the best of it right now.
Is that reward for some good work in training and can we keep it up?
Bob.