Arsenal are not ´set-piece FC´, says Chelsea boss Rosenior

Liam Rosenior says Chelsea’s EFL Cup semi-final opponents Arsenal are about more than dead balls, hitting out at critics who have described the Gunners as “set-piece FC”.

Chelsea will welcome the Gunners to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday for the first leg of their last-four tie, with Newcastle United and Manchester City in the other semi-final.

Chelsea have progressed from four of their six previous EFL Cup ties against Arsenal, while this will be their third meeting in the competition’s semi-finals. They have won one apiece, with the Blues triumphing in 1997-98 and the Gunners successful in 2017-18.

Rosenior’s side face a difficult task just a week into his reign, with Arsenal six points clear at the top of the Premier League, and much of the Gunners’ recent success has come from set-plays.

Arsenal’s 12 goals from set-pieces, excluding penalties, are the joint-most in the Premier League this season – alongside Leeds United and Chelsea.

Leeds are the only team to create a higher expected goals (xG) figure from set-pieces than Arsenal (10.1 to 10.0), with 26.9% of the Gunners’ xG coming from such situations.

But Rosenior insists Chelsea cannot afford to focus solely on stopping Arsenal’s dead-ball deliveries, saying: “I don’t know who’s calling them set-piece FC. I’m definitely not.

“Arsenal are good at everything. They’re a good team. You have to manage your 1% to be as good a team as you can, to win in as many different ways as possible.

“I respect them, and I think they’ll respect us because we’re a good team as well. They’re a team who are very good without the ball.

“They have a really, really clear idea of the way they want to play with the ball. And on top of that, they’re very well-organised with good deliveries on set-plays. That’s what you want to be if you want to be successful.”

Arsenal’s 88 shots from set-pieces are the fourth-most of any team in the Premier League this season, but as a percentage of their total shots (30%), the Gunners are the eighth-least reliant team on set-plays.

Manchester City are the least reliant, with just 20.6% of their shots coming from set-plays, while Burnley rely on dead balls the most, generating 41.2% of their shots that way.

“We’ve been working tactically on Arsenal from the moment I came into the club,” Rosenior continued.

“We’ve watched all their games, analysed every aspect of their game, including the set-plays, which they’re very good at. There’s a lot you can affect.

“We talk about systems and tactics, but after being here for two days, I saw an attitude against Charlton that I really, really liked, in terms of our energy, our intensity in the press, winning duels… you’re going to need that against a very, very good team.”