Arteta addresses worrying Arsenal trend after Neville's concern rears head again

20 March 2023 , 19:47

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Arteta addresses worrying Arsenal trend after Neville's concern rears head again

Arsenal may have brushed aside Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon with relative ease as they ran out 4-1 winners, but manager Mikel Arteta wasn't convinced by every aspect of his side's display.

The Gunners attacked the Eagles with remarkable confidence, with Gabriel Martinelli opening the scoring before Bukayo Saka bagged a brace either side of a Granit Xhaka strike. However, while the scores was 3-0 to the hosts, Palace pulled back a consolation goal courtesy of Jeffrey Schlupp which came from a corner.

In what is a concerning development for Arteta, Arsenal have started to concede an alarming amount of goals from set-pieces. Dating back to the 1-0 defeat by Everton last month, the Gunners have shipped goals from corners against the Toffees, Brentford, Bournemouth and Sporting CP.

While discussing the dramatic comeback victory over Bournemouth earlier this month, Neville admitted he fears for Arteta's side due to the amount of goals they are conceding.

"They made it really difficult for themselves. They’ve got a real momentum, they've got a spirit building, the fans are with them. I would say to them they’ve got to stop conceding goals," he explained.

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"It sounds like a really simple thing to say but when you concede goals on a run-in, it’s really tough and they’ve conceded two against Bournemouth, they’ve conceded against Brentford, they’ve conceded against [Manchester] United, [Aston] Villa, City. They’ve conceded quite a few goals - I think 11 in the last eight games."

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Jeffrey Schlupp scored Crystal Palace's goal from a corner at Arsenal

Arteta himself echoed a similar sentiment following the victory over Palace, though he did also highlight the plenty of positives on show.

"I’m really pleased with the performance, the energy, the determination that we showed again, the way we controlled the game," said the Gunners boss.

"It was tough after playing 120 minutes in the week, wondering how the team would react but they reacted brilliantly and the crowd was at it again. Really happy.

"Disappointed to concede a goal on a set play and it was poor the way we did it. We could have done things better in the second half when we were dominant. We could have been more respectful with the simple things but it’s normal."

That wasn't the only time Arteta focused on the defending from corners in his interview, as just minutes later he added: "Yeah, I am not happy with that. Again it is from a set-piece. We need to improve that."

Arteta will surely spend the extended break Arsenal now have due to the international break trying to tighten the Gunners up when it comes to defending set-pieces.

Josh O'Brien