Former top flight star Steve Nicol has lavished praise on the set-piece qualities of Arsenal and conceded that sometimes it is almost impossible for the opposition to defend against the Gunners.
Gabriel Magalhaes’ towering header from a corner in the 64th minute was the difference on Sunday as Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby.
Without Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard in the team, Arsenal were up against it but Mikel Arteta’s side showed their title credentials in a scrappy win over their north London rival away from home.
It was a set-piece that made the difference and Gabriel rose over his marker Cristian Romero to produce a bullet header to put Arsenal ahead in the game.
Tottenham attracted flak for failing to defend the set-piece situation but Nicol insisted that everyone has to hold their hands up and admit that Arsenal can be sometimes too good in dead ball scenarios.
Nicol insists Arsenal need to be applauded for what they do during set-piece situations
The former Liverpool star stressed Arsenal are difficult to defend against during set-piece situations because of two key reasons.
He pointed out that the Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario had no chance of dealing with the set-piece delivery from Bukayo Saka on Sunday because the pace it had.
Nicol also hailed the movement of the Arsenal players during the set-piece and insisted that it is almost impossible to pick up a man because of it.
He admitted that the only thing the Spurs defender could have done is put off Gabriel but conceded that the overall set-piece plan was far too good from the Gunners.
“The way Arsenal go about it, it is very difficult to defend against. Sometimes you have just got to applaud the opposition”, Nicol said on ESPN FC.
“There are two elements to what Arsenal do and clearly the first one is the delivery.
“The deliver has to be spot on and that delivery was absolutely on the money – it’s flat and the pace on the ball, if you are asking goalkeepers to make quick judgements with the pace that the ball was coming in, you have got no chance of doing that.
“The second thing is the movement.
“If you watch Arsenal’s players, every single one of them whatever position they are starting in, they end up at least five yards away, when the ball actually comes into the penalty box and that is really difficult to handle.
“At the end of the day you have got to by hook or by crook, pick a man and make sure that if you don’t win the ball off him, you put him off enough that he can’t score.
“After that? Good luck because they are just so good.”
