- Arsenal defeated Crystal Palace 5-0 in the Premier League on Saturday
- The North London side’s first two goals both came from set pieces
- Football is changing… managers cannot rely on their reputations. Just look at the Golden Generation – It all starts
Arsenal have scored more goals from set pieces than any other Premier League team this season and Match of the Day expert Ashley Williams thinks she knows why.
The Gunners made easy work of Crystal Palace on Saturday, beating them 5-0 at the Emirates.
Defender Gabriel played a big role in the first two goals, each coming from a corner.
He scored the first and picked up an assist via an own goal for the second, making his height and strength count.
And former Swansea centre-back Williams believes he knows the secret to Arsenal’s success.
The Match of the Day experts have noticed that Martin Odegaard is making signals with his socks
In his analysis of the game, Williams explained: ‘There is always a trigger for what the movement will be, and we can see that they have worked on whether it is a front post corner or a back post corner.
“If you keep an eye on Odegaard, we have a feeling – maybe we’ve had too much time – but we have a feeling he might be signaling something to the corner taker.
‘He stands in the same place in every corner and plays with his socks. The reason we’re looking for a trigger is because (these things) are being worked on.
‘Synchronicity is looked at, whether they go forward or backward. Every clip we see here has him doing the same thing, playing with his socks. It could be a coincidence, yes.
Odegaard is Arsenal’s captain and it seems he dictates their set-piece play
“This one is interesting because it’s actually an outpost and he’s doing something else with his socks, so I understand that we might be reaching for something that isn’t there, but it’s a great coincidence that he’s always there and always doing something with his sock.
‘I think Arsenal coach Nicolas Jover said: ‘We have signals about what set piece we are doing’