Arsenal match surprise Premier League record from seven years ago

Arsenal have matched a record that you really wouldn’t associate with Arsenal of all clubs – the club of Wengerball, the club of trying to walk the ball into the net, the club sometimes accused of trying to be a mini-Barcelona.

Remarkably, the Gunners have now scored 16 goals from set pieces in the Premier League this season – the most any side has managed in a single campaign in the competition since Tony Pulis’ West Brom seven years ago, according to the statisticians at Opta.

See below for the post on X from Opta Joe, which points out that Kai Havertz’s header against Tottenham in today’s game brought them level with Pulis’ side of 2016/17…

This just shows how much of a changed team Arsenal are under the management of Mikel Arteta, whose side lead 3-0 at half time in today’s North London Derby as they continue to pile the pressure onto reigning champions Manchester City in this extremely close title race.

Arsenal also scored through a corner earlier in the game, as Spurs midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg put the ball through his own net from a Bukayo Saka cross into the box, while Havertz later headed in from Declan Rice’s corner to make it 3-0 to Arteta’s men.

Still, we’ve seen some spectacular high-scoring North London derbies before, so it remains to be seen what kind of reaction we’ll get if Tottenham score early in the second half.

In general, Arsenal have defended set pieces as well as they’ve scored from them, with tall defenders like William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes turning this team into a towering force that can’t be pushed aside like they used to be.

Ange Postecoglou will surely give his players an earful at half time, however, and try to inspire something to at least make their rivals a bit more nervous in the