Arsenal ‘worked’ in Dubai to unleash tactic to try and improve area of weakness

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Arsenal return to action against Crystal Palace tomorrow as they aim to recover from a poor run of form which has seen them lose their last three games.

The Gunners went into Christmas at the top of the table, but fell to defeats against West Ham and Fulham, and are now in fourth place.

A cup elimination against Liverpool followed, and the winter break came at the perfect time for Arsenal as they embarked on a trip to Dubai in a bid to recharge and recover.

Arsenal conceded goals from set-pieces in each of these defeats, despite statistically defending set-pieces better than anyone in the Premier League this season, but they have now attempted to address this area of weakness.

Arsenal worked on set-pieces in Dubai training

A report from The Standard has now revealed that Mikel Arteta, and his coaching staff including set-piece coach Nicolas Jover, aimed to use time in the Dubai trip to solve their recent vulnerabilities from set plays.

“Able to intensify their training sessions in a sunnier climate, Arsenal worked on both their attacking and defensive set-piece routines in Dubai,” the report claimed.

Arsenal conceded just one goal from corners from their first 14 league games this season, but let in four in their last six.

They have also scored 11 times from set-pieces, the joint-most alongside Everton in the Premier League, but have struggled from open play, with just 20 goals in 20 games.

Arsenal’s recent defensive blip

The recent poor run of form was something of a blip given that Arsenal were fine and at the top of the league leading into it.

Arsenal have been outstanding at set-pieces as a whole during Jover’s time at the club, and recent games are the exception, not the norm, when it comes to defending with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.

Arsenal will now hope that they can return to winning ways against Crystal Palace, but with the likes of Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi threatening in the air, they will hope their set-piece practice in Dubai pays off.

The Gunners have games against struggling sides in Palace and Nottingham Forest which are simply must-wins before Liverpool return to the Emirates in early February.

Arsenal are not yet at a crisis point, and they can attribute part of their poor form to bad luck in games which they dominated, but a negative result in the next two games would be massively concerning.