Mikel Arteta makes Arsenal change admission as rivals try to beat them at their own game

No team has scored more goals from set pieces this season than Arsenal, but Mikel Arteta knows that his rivals pose the same threat.

Mikel Arteta says Arsenal’s rivals are all scoring from set-pieces and highlighted that the game's evolution has forced change. After victory over Chelsea courtesy of two goals from set-pieces, the Blues also netting from a corner of their own, the Gunners again came under scrutiny.

Many have suggested Arsenal have been getting away with grappling in the box, but the Arsenal manager says that this is something happening everywhere and not just in the penalty area.

“I think the referees have to put where that line is,” Arteta said. “It's happening in open play in many circumstances. There are a lot of videos flying around about that. So it's happening across the game in various phases, not only in set-pieces.

“Certain things are allowed, certain things are not. I think it becomes difficult for the referees.”

Asked whether he thought his side are being judged differently to other sides he accepted that different points of view will always exist.

“I think we have to respect every opinion and that is it," he said.

Ahead of tonight’s clash with Brighton, where again the Gunners might benefit from their set-piece strength, Arteta made it clear that, in his view, many others are at it.

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“I mean, you as an opponent or whatever, you get upset when you concede a goal,” he said. “I was really upset the way we conceded a goal against Chelsea, and Chelsea, look at the quality that they had.

“The amount of set-pieces they scored, Manchester United is doing so well. The same. I was at Man City, used to work a lot on them. So, it's something.”

Interestingly, Arteta revealed that he has had to change the way his side plays from as little as just two seasons ago.

“There are phases, and there are moments when a team has an opportunity to do certain things, and the game is evolving, and the game is becoming more and more difficult.

“Before, when you used to do a game plan, and you just invert a full-back and bring an extra player in midfield or a false nine, the opponent is ‘Fini!’

“Big overload, four vs three inside, two vs one inside, time on the ball. So dominant, 70/80% of possession, the other opponent, two counter-attackers, set-pieces, the game is done.”

The reason for the change is that teams have got wiser, an inverted full-back would be swallowed up in the man-to-man world that this new era of the top-flight English football provides.

“Now, teams are adapting,” Arteta said. “Teams know after every sequence of play, whether it's a throw-in, a restart of play, an open-play situation, or after direct play, exactly what they have to do, and everything is almost man-to-man.

“So, it's going to be a different game unless we change the rules because the evolution of the game is that.”