{"id":279415,"date":"2026-02-04T00:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/279415\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T00:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:50:07","slug":"arsenal-1-0-chelsea-blues-adopt-match-of-the-day-tactic-to-stop-set-play-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/279415\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea: Blues adopt Match of the Day tactic to stop set-play threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do you stop Arsenal<\/a> causing chaos from set-pieces?<\/p>\n

It’s the question everyone keeps asking – but few find an answer.<\/p>\n

The Gunners are Europe’s leading force in scoring from set-plays over the past couple of seasons and it has proved to be such a formidable tactic.<\/p>\n

Step forward Liam Rosenior and Chelsea<\/a>, who tried an innovative way of stopping them in their Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg tie on Tuesday night – just days after former Manchester City<\/a> and Newcastle<\/a> goalkeeper Shay Given had suggested similar on Match of the Day.<\/p>\n

While it wasn’t able to stop the Gunners securing a 1-0 win<\/a> – and 4-2 aggregate success – to book their place in the EFL Cup final, it might at least have given rivals some food for thought.<\/p>\n

Just as Arsenal<\/a> were about to whip in their two corners, Chelsea<\/a> sent three players sprinting from defence to attack – forcing the hosts to quickly react and send players back themselves.<\/p>\n

Monaco and Crystal Palace<\/a> have also left players up against Arsenal<\/a>‘s set-pieces before – but no team has attempted such a late attempt at forcing Mikel Arteta’s men back towards their own half.<\/p>\n

Perhaps they had been listening to Given on Match of the Day on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

After watching Arsenal<\/a> score from two set-pieces in their 4-0 thrashing of Leeds<\/a>, he said: “I wish someone would try something different.<\/p>\n

“Take nothing away from Arsenal<\/a>, but I see the same set-up every week – Arsenal<\/a> players loaded at the back and causing carnage. Every set-up is the same. <\/p>\n

“Someone can try something different to stop this brilliant form of attack. What can teams do different to create more space? If they leave three up, Arsenal<\/a> have to leave at least three, maybe four players back. <\/p>\n

“Then, in the defending box, that leaves a lot more space for the defenders and the goalkeeper. Yes, it leaves more space for the forwards as well, but all those numbers caused so much confusion.”<\/p>\n

Since the start of last season, Arteta’s men have scored 53 goals from set-pieces across all competitions – 13 more than anyone else in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

And Chelsea<\/a>‘s tactic – while not enough to secure them a place in the EFL Cup final – at least stopped Arsenal<\/a> from scoring from a set-play.<\/p>\n

Ex-Liverpool<\/a> midfielder Jamie Redknapp was less impressed though.<\/p>\n

He told Sky Sports: “I like the plan, but my problem is Enzo Fernandez was left marking Gabriel and he has 10 yards to attack the ball.<\/p>\n

“Chelsea<\/a> are trying to negate there being too much traffic in the area, which Arsenal<\/a> try to cause chaos with. They obviously have a plan but if Arsenal<\/a> have the right delivery, Enzo Fernandez has no chance.”<\/p>\n

Will other teams follow suit?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How do you stop Arsenal causing chaos from set-pieces? It’s the question everyone keeps asking – but few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-279415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}