Lee Dixon responds to claims Arsenal rely on set-pieces
Lee Dixon has dismissed claims that Arsenal are too reliant on set goals, suggesting the Gunners’ threat from corners and free-kicks is something to embrace.
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Arsenal have made an excellent start to the 2025/26 campaign, top of the Premier League, second in the Champions League on goal difference and in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, with the FA Cup yet to begin.
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Yet Mikel Arteta’s side still attracted plenty of criticism, particularly regarding the fact that many of the team’s goals came from set pieces.
Talk to Daily Canon This week, Lee Dixon highlighted that these set goals don’t come out of nowhere and that it’s what the team does in open play that creates these opportunities.
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“No, (the number of goals saved is) not a problem for me,” Dixon insisted.
“I think people sometimes forget that, you get stuck with statistics and you say, well, they scored that many – but to create a goal from a free kick, especially a corner, you have to win a corner or a free kick.
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“Which suggests that you put enough pressure on teams to give the ball away or foul you. You make shots, you block crosses. You create a pressure environment where defenses give things away. So let’s not forget that.
“People just say, ‘Luckily they get corners and score from them.’ And if they didn’t, they wouldn’t do it.
“If they weren’t scoring from those corners you would say ‘we have to score goals somewhere else’, but they are scoring and they have almost created a model of excellence when it comes to these types of set pieces.”
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As for why Arsenal have been such a threat this season, Dixon was quick to name the takers.
“The biggest reason for that is what I mentioned before, is you have arguably two of the best corner takers in the world,” Dixon explained.
“Saka’s corners on the right side are just outstanding with his left foot. And like I said, Declan Rice, no one kicks a ball into an area like him with as much regularity as he does. Luckily we have them for England too!
“Strangely enough he wasn’t in the corners the other night and maybe that was just to give someone else another chance. But yeah, I’m not too concerned about the fact that we’re scoring a lot of goals from set pieces. It just shows determination. It shows desire. It shows the imagination of the coaches.
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“I mean, they’re not reinventing the wheel. Some of the positions they’re in are pretty surprising sometimes. The one they’re all in at fullback now. So there’s an element of genius in the coaching side. So let’s embrace that rather than make it a negative.”
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Arsenal’s set-piece threat will undoubtedly take a major hit in the injury absence of Gabriel Magalhaes, with the centre-back having contributed two goals and three assists from set-pieces so far this season.
The Brazilian central defender is set to remain on the sidelines after suffering a thigh injury on international duty, and it’s up to the 27-year-old’s teammates to continue scoring those goals without him.
If Saka and Rice are as effective as Dixon suggests, the players in the box who rise to the occasion couldn’t ask for better service.