Arsenal aren’t playing anti-football – everyone else is
Arsenal’s four-point lead at the top of the Premier League table has sparked plenty of debate about their style of play, but it’s not the Gunners who are playing ‘anti-football’.
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Arsenal currently sit top of the Premier League, having scored just one goal fewer than the most in the division, but the team was accused this week that their style of play is “boring” or “anti-football”.
The proof is that Arsenal games don’t often involve end-to-end football and the team scores a lot from set pieces. Still, it’s worth investigating exactly why.
For starters, Arsenal are simply better than most teams at converting set pieces into goals. Isaan Khan reports for the Daily Mail that Arsenal’s corner conversion rate of 10.4% in 2025/26 is only bettered by Chelsea (10.7%). Both are very far from the best rate of last season (Crystal Palace, 6.4%).
Arsenal aren’t artificially increasing their number of set pieces by taking so many, the Gunners are just as good as anyone at finishing off chances when they present themselves.
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That’s not to say Arsenal don’t get plenty of corners. Nobody in the Premier League gets more per game than the 7.44 won by Mikel Arteta’s side.
But the reason for that it’s that ‘boring’ Arsenal have more touches in the opposition penalty area than any other team in the division. With 320 touches in nine matches, the team is 28 ahead of its closest competitor.
When you have the ball in the opponent’s penalty area more than anyone else, it stands to reason that you win more corners than anyone else. In contrast, only Leeds United concede fewer corners per game than Arsenal, as the teams do not penetrate the Gunners’ penalty area as often.
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The simple fact is that teams don’t want the ball when they play Arsenal. The last time the Gunners had less possession than an opponent was in August, 11 games ago. The last time Arsenal had fewer shots than an opponent was on the opening day of the season.
Manchester City came to the Emirates Stadium and recorded their lowest possession rate in Pep Guardiola’s 600 games in charge, taking just five shots to Arsenal’s 12.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was booked for time wasting in that match, Joelinton was booked for the same with Newcastle United the following week. Arsenal have not had a player booked for time-wasting in the Premier League since matchday one.
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Manchester United are the only team to have a higher possession percentage in their match against Arsenal than their usual average. The other eight teams the Gunners have faced in the league have all given up more of the ball than they normally would, including Liverpool and Manchester City.
Yet no team has had fewer touches in their defensive third than Arsenal this season, either in total or percentage.
Teams don’t watch Arteta’s side play in their own penalty area, they give possession to the Gunners and drop back as much as they can.
The opponents don’t outshoot Arsenal, they don’t have more of the ball, they don’t try to push their team up the pitch, they just try to stop Arteta’s team from scoring. Arsenal don’t play anti-football, but over the past few months almost every opponent has played anti-football against them.
If you’re bored of Arsenal games, talk to the teams who are putting all their effort into trying to make it happen.