Thierry Henry has labelled Arsenal’s recent tactics as “predictable” after going another game without scoring a goal from open player.
The Gunners were held to a goalless draw with Everton in the Premier League at the weekend. Mikel Arteta’s side remain six points adrift of leaders Liverpool in the table, with the Merseyside club having a game in hand.
Arsenal have not scored an open play goal in the top flight since the 5-2 win over West Ham at the end of December – a run that has now stretched to three matches.
Wednesday will see Arteta and Co. face Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup quarter-final before taking on the Eagles once again at the weekend in the Premier League.
Henry has become the latest pundit to analyse Arsenal’s use of set-pieces this season, particularly corners, which have resulted in several important goals for Arteta’s side. The Gunners legend has criticised some of the tactics employed by his former club despite the success from set-pieces.
“I would say they [Arsenal] are very predictable,” Henry said on Sky Sports Monday Night Football. “You’re not going to say it’s not good to score off set-pieces, it is outstanding.
“I’m just saying the issue in Europe for a very long time was it took us a year to score away from home in Europe. Now, the last three that they’ve scored in the league have been from set-pieces.
“Think about Liverpool, when Mo Salah cuts inside, you have Joe Gomez, Diogo Jota, or Darwin Nunez running, or Conor Bradley sometimes on the inside running.
“Look at what Bukayo Saka has against Man United [lack of forward passing options]. But it’s predictable, we all know he’s going to play with [Martin] Odegaard, everyone sees that.
“Can you beat the line? You can pass to Declan Rice and enjoy a quick 3v2. That’s called creating, playing between the lines, attracting an opponent one way and going the other way to see what you can do with the 3v2.
“Too predictable, it goes to [Oleksandr] Zinchenko. Zinchenko can play to his winger, but he doesn’t, he prefers to play to the ’10’, if he plays to the winger, then the ’10’ can make the run.
“And what do you do when you’re Arsenal and you can’t open up a team? You go to Bukayo Saka.”
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