Mikel Arteta dismisses Ruben Amorim set-piece claim after Arsenal corner dominance against Manchester United | OneFootball

Amorim suggested Arsenal’s wingers deliberately try to win corners

Mikel Arteta has insisted there is more to his Arsenal side than set-pieces, as two more goals from corners proved the difference in Wednesday's 2-0 win over Manchester United.

Jurrien Timber headed home Bukayo Saka's ball to break the deadlock nine minutes after the interval and William Saliba bundled over the line after Thomas Partey nodded another corner across a crowded six-yard box.

Arsenal have now scored 22 goals from set-pieces since the start of last season and Ruben Amorim, the Manchester United head coach, afterwards claimed that wingers Saka and Gabriel Martinelli deliberately try to win corners when attacking their full-backs.

"Last year we scored the most goals in the history of this football club," the Spaniard said.

"Not because of only set pieces, [but] because of a lot of things that we have. We want to create individual and magic moments. A lot of players can create their own goals. We can create goals from short counters and long counters, slow build-ups, restarts and the opportunity to open up the opposition.

Man United had no answer to Arsenal’s threat from set-pieces

Action Images via Reuters

“Every single phase of play let's maximise it, keep working on it, keep improving."

Arteta, though, acknowledged that set-pieces are an important part of his side's armoury.

"We need that [threat]," he added. "I think we want to be very dangerous and very effective from every angle and every phase of play.

“Today we could have scored from open play like we did against West Ham and Sporting. The team really has that belief that from every angle we have the mentality to threaten the opponent and try to score. Today was two set pieces. We had 13 corners. We have to take a lot from that."

Amorim, who suffered a first defeat as United head coach, suggested that Saka and Martinelli aim to go outside to win corners, which Arteta denied.

"No, we play with inverted wingers," he said, when asked about the Portuguese's comment.

"They develop a lot inside so there’s not a lot of space inside. When they leave there is a lot of space for the full back or for the six, if not then for the nine, if not you can go outside. We need to look at every angle.

“What they do, where they can be weak and where we can exploit the weakness of the opposition."

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