Andoni Iraola has claimed that Bournemouth are now trying to replicate something that Arsenal are doing, after the Cherries lost to Manchester City on Sunday.
The south coast outfit were unable to do the Gunners a favour as Erling Haaland scored a brace in a 3-1 City victory at the Etihad.
While the result means Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League extends to six points over second place, the gap with their primary rivals has not increased.
Mikel Arteta’s side travel to Sunderland at the weekend before City host Liverpool at Anfield in what will no doubt be another pivotal matchweek in the title race.
Andoni Iraola says Bournemouth are copying what Arsenal do from corners
Arsenal have scored from eight corners in their first ten Premier League matches, which is a league record.
The Gunners have developed a reputation for being extremely effective from dead-ball situations, with their innovative routines and exceptional deliveries causing teams issues.
The rest of the English top flight has now taken a leaf out of Arteta’s book and has started to focus on maximising their threat from set-pieces.
After losing to City on Sunday, Bournemouth boss Iraola revealed that his side are trying to replicate what Arsenal do in terms of putting pressure on the opposition goalkeeper from corners.
This came after the Cherries scored a controversial goal from a set-piece, in which Gianluigi Donnarumma appeared to be impeded. The goal was checked and cleared by VAR, and Pep Guardiola was not happy about it.
However, Iraola defended his team by claiming that they’ve been watching what Arsenal and Crystal Palace have been doing from corners.
“They are not calling these fouls, no?” he said on 606.
“At the end, we are putting pressure on the keeper because we see that other teams, Palace, Arsenal, that are scoring, the ones that are scoring most goals from corners, a lot of times are coming from these kinds of situations.
“And I think today’s was not the worst that they have definitely given.”
Arsenal will need to keep innovating as teams copy them
Gabriel Magalhaes is given a free role to attack the ball from Arsenal’s set pieces.
This, combined with the exquisite deliveries from Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka, is the secret behind the Gunners’ success from dead-balls.
This should continue to be effective, although Nicolas Jover will need to continue to innovate and find new ways to find marginal gains inside the box.
As Iraola alluded to, teams are already closely observing Arsenal and trying to replicate what they do. This will lead to referees being more savvy about little tricks like obstructing the goalkeeper, something the Gunners have actually stopped doing to an extent since the days of Ben White grappling with their gloves.
Thus, innovation and constant minor tweaks to their set-piece creativity will be required.
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