Former Chelsea midfielder, John Obi Mikel has strongly criticised Arsenal F.C., accusing the Premier League leaders of trying to “cheat their way” to the title with their heavy dependence on set-pieces.
The former Chelsea F.C. midfielder, who won two league titles during his time at Stamford Bridge, described the Gunners’ approach to scoring from corners as “illegal” and “ugly to watch”, despite Mikel Arteta’s side currently sitting at the top of the Premier League table.
Speaking during a passionate discussion on talkSPORT, Mikel questioned Arsenal’s style of play, particularly considering the club’s huge investment in the transfer market in recent years.
“When I watch Arsenal play right now, they depend solely, solely on corner kicks.
“You have spent almost a billion, Mikel Arteta… And you’re telling me the only way you can win games is through corner kicks? It’s ridiculous,” he said.
The Nigerian believes Arsenal’s talented attacking players are not being fully utilised, arguing that the focus on marginal gains from set-pieces has limited the team’s creativity.
Mikel also took aim at how Arsenal handle situations during corners, suggesting the players deliberately obstruct opponents and the goalkeeper.
“What they do during set-pieces, for me, it’s illegal. First of all, they’re impeding the goalkeeper and now they start holding players,” Mikel continued.
“When you hold a play, when you impede a player from jumping, I watched the game against Chelsea when they played against us.
Declan Rice was grabbing, I don’t know who’s, the left back, what’s his name [Jorrel Hato]?”
Statistics show Arsenal have scored a league-leading 21 goals from set-pieces this season, while only 35 of their 100 goals in all competitions have come from open play.
Despite the criticism, Mikel suggested supporters are unlikely to complain because the results have been positive.
“The only reason why the Arsenal fans are not complaining… is because they’re top of the league,” he argued.
“The creativity that they have, the potentials that they have, it’s all gone out of the window. We don’t see them anymore.”