Gary Neville has now highlighted the tactic that Arsenal used as Mikel Arteta’s team claimed a 1-0 win at Everton last Sunday that is infuriating rival Premier League fans.
The Gunners claimed a 1-0 win at Goodison Park over the weekend to end their torrid streak on Merseyside. Arsenal had not won away to Everton or Liverpool in a Premier League game since 2017. But Leandro Trossard’s goal gave Arteta’s team the three points over the Toffees.
Trossard registered what proved to be the sole goal of the game from a short corner routine that Arsenal perfected. Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard stood on the ball as Everton grew increasingly frustrated. They only played it short once Jordan Pickford had begun protesting.
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Arsenal annoyed Neville with Saka’s corner routine at Everton
Everton allowed themselves to get distracted by Arsenal waiting for the perfect moment to play the corner short. Dwight McNeil then applied zero pressure on Odegaard finding Fabio Vieira before the Gunners worked the ball into the area for Trossard to fire beyond Pickford.
Arsenal waited 26.5 seconds from Saka placing the ball by the corner flag to the 22-year-old tapping it to Odegaard. It was a deliberate choice by the England ace and Odegaard to delay resuming the game. The Gunners often sought to take their corners short in the second half.
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The Gunners wasted more time in the Premier League last term
Yet the time Arsenal waited to take the corner from which Trossard ultimately scored against Everton was actually below the Premier League average from last term. Opta notes that the average time teams took to resume play from corners across the division was 33 seconds.
Brentford were the worst offenders having delayed play for 38.6 seconds on average, ahead of Nottingham Forest at 38.3. Arsenal even waited 33.2 seconds on average in 2022/23, less than the 26.5 seconds taken at Everton that Neville felt annoyed the Goodison Park faithful.
“I’m really interested in this Arsenal corner thing we’ve seen today,” Neville said during the match on Sky Sports. “It’s interesting.
“They stand over the ball for so long almost like the referee is going to wander over and give a yellow card. And then, at the time the home fans start booing like crazy, they play it at the last point before a yellow card or a referee intervention.”