Gary Lineker and Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta (Pictures: YouTube/Getty)
Gary Lineker has revealed his ‘concern’ for Arsenal as they battle Liverpool and Chelsea for the Premier League title.
The Gunners’ title challenge suffered another blow on Sunday as Mikel Arteta’s side were held to a 1-1 draw with London rivals Fulham.
The stalemate in west London leaves Arsenal third in the Premier League table, two points behind high-flying Chelsea and six behind runaway leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
Arsenal have came agonisingly close to winning the Premier League over the last two seasons and are hoping to lift the title for the first time since 2004.
Lineker is ‘concerned’ Arsenal are becoming reliant on set-piece goals, however, something which is not a problem for Liverpool or Chelsea.
Arsenal have scored 23 goals from corners since the start of last season – more than any other team in Europe’s big five leagues.
‘They really struggled to create much,’ ex-England striker Lineker said on The Rest is Football podcast when discussing Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Fulham.
Arsenal scored from another corner against Fulham (Picture: Getty)
‘Once again they looked really dangerous from set-pieces because they’re delivery is so good. The delivery is so good and so accurate that eventually an Arsenal player is going to win a header.
‘My concern, a little bit, about Arsenal is they are not quite scoring goals without those set pieces. They did not create too many opportunities against Fulham.’
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard said his team-mates are confident of scoring from every set-piece given their recent success from such instances.
But the Norway midfielder admitted Arsenal were ‘disappointed’ to return to north London with just a point as they look to end a 21-year wait for a league title.
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‘We’re so good at it and everyone believes that when we have a set-piece, we’re going to score,’ said Odegaard.
‘And [against Fulham] we did, and we could have scored a few more to be honest. That’s a good thing and we just have to keep that up.
‘The mood obviously now is disappointed because we didn’t win, but we have to move on to the next, they come so quickly now.
‘There’s no time to be too disappointed, we have to move on and make sure we win the next one and that’s it.’
Arsenal face Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday night before returning to Premier League action next weekend against Everton, who thumped Wolves 4-0 last time out.
While the Gunners dropped points over the weekend, Chelsea kept the pressure on Premier League leaders Liverpool with a thrilling 4-3 win over Tottenham.
Liverpool’s final Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park was postponed on safety grounds because of severe weather caused by Storm Darragh.
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