FEATURE | Monaco & Arsenal – masters of their craft

There is a shared history between AS Monaco and Arsenal. It is a former Monaco manager, Arsène Wenger, and a former Monégasque academy product, in the form of Thierry Henry, that represented the backbone of Arsenal’s most recent golden era. 

The two teams will share a pitch on Wendesday and they also share a love of dead-ball situations. Arsenal’s efficiency from set-pieces has seen Mikel Arteta’s side compared to Barclays-era Stoke City, a comparison that Arteta interprets as flattering. 

Set-pieces are one of the major source of goals, not only for Arsenal but for every club. Monaco manager Adi Hütter often highlights that around a third of goals come from set-pieces (including penalties), justfiying the extensive work that the Principality club put into dead-ball situations. If Arsenal are the dead-ball specialists in the Premier League – and they certainly are just that – Monaco are the Ligue 1 equivalent. 

From corners alone, Arsenal have scored 23 goals since the start of the 2023/24 season, including all of their last three in the top-flight, – no Premier League side has scored more, whilst this season, 31% of Arsenal’s goals have come from dead-ball situations.

Arsenal over-reliant on set pieces?

“We do lots of work on set pieces. It’s the worst!” joked Bukayo Saka at the start of the year. But it is work that is certainly paying dividends. In the draw over Fulham at the weekend (1-1), 1.7 of Arsenal’s xG of 2.0 came from set-pieces, although Arteta shirks suggestions of an over-reliance. 

Monaco, meanwhile, have scored nine goals from set-pieces, including penalties, the equivalent of a quarter of all of their goals in all competitions, whilst no team has scored more from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in Ligue 1 (four). 

There is a comparable success, even if the stats reveal Arsenal’s superiority in this domain, but there is a different methodology. Arsenal’s success is largely attributed to Nicolas Jover, who joined as set-piece coach from Manchester City back in 2021; since his arrival, no Premier League side has scored more goals from corners. 

At Monaco, there is no set-piece coach. The responsibility is shared. “We work as a four-person team on these phases of play with my three assistants and a video analyst. This explains why we are doing a fantastic job in this sector,” said Hütter earlier this season. Les Monégasques perhaps provide a convincing counter-argument as to why it isn’t necessarily a must to have a set-piece coach, something Tottenham Hotspur have notably been criticised for. At the very least, the Monaco example provides a nuance to the conversation.  

While there is theory, there is also the application of it, which comes through the individuals, who execute the plans worked on at the training ground throughout the week. Delivery, if inconsistent foils all plans but that is so rarerly the case for Arsenal and Monaco. 

All about the delivery

Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, and Martin Odegaard assume the duties for the Gunners. The former two have proven to be pin-point in their deliveries from set-pieces, creating a combined 32 shot-creating actions (16 each) and seven goal-creating actions. With 96% of Arsenal’s set-pieces inswinging, there is a repetition and therefore a clarity of thought that allows for such regular high-level execution. 

For Monaco, Lamine Camara, Aleksandr Golovin, and Caio Henrique assume the duties. It is the former, signed from FC Metz over the summer that is the standout. He has created nine shot-creating actions and two goal-creating actions, including an assist in a 2-0 win over Toulouse FC over the weekend. Henrique (seven shot-creating actions) and Golovin (three shot-creating actions) also make a considerable contribution with the latter’s delivery, tucked home by Thilo Kehrer, proving the difference against Bologna (1-0). 

“Thilo is one of our key players on set pieces, offensively and defensively,” notes Hütter, with Kehrer netting three in all competitions. Wilfried Singo (two goals), Denis Zakaria (three goals) and Mohammed Salisu (one goal) have all made their presence felt inside the opposition box. Gabriel, a potential absentee on Wendesday, has been Arsenal’s main threat. With four goals, he is the Gunners’ third top-scorer, behind only Bukayo Saka (seven) and Kai Havertz (nine). 

Arsenal and Monaco dominant in their own boxes but not elsewhere

What is peculiar about both sides’ dominance in the opposition box is their lack of dominance in the air more generally. Both have middling figures for aerial duels won in their respective leagues with Salisu, the player with the highest percentage of aerial duels won (84.6%) in Ligue 1 and the second highest in Europe’s top five divisions, an exception to the rule. That is considerably above Les Monégasques’ average (50.79%) of duels won in Ligue 1, whilst Arsenal fare slightly worse with 49.6%. Neither side wins all of their aerial duels but they frequently win the important ones and that is what makes them so dangerous and also attests to their specific work on set-piece routines.

Even in the likely absence of Gabriel (injury) and Singo (suspended), this is a game that could be decided by who wins that crucial yard or jumps highest within a crowded box, and Hütter is aware of this. “There has been more preparation (for Arsenal) than a Ligue 1 game because we are facing a top team. Set-pieces are a weapon for sure, not just for them but for us too; we can be a threat too. We practice them a lot and we have an idea of how to defend them. We have an idea, a plan [of how to defend against them] and we need to implement it,” said Hütter. Time will tell whether Hütter and Monaco have the formula to counter Arsenal’s set-piece dominance that the Gunners’ previous opponents have not. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from the Emirates Stadium