- Arsenal thrashed Crystal Palace 5-0 in the Premier League on Saturday
- Both of the north London side’s first two goals came from set-pieces
- Football is changing… managers can’t rely on their reputation. Just look at the Golden Generation – It’s All Kicking Off
Arsenal have scored more goals from set-pieces than any other Premier League team this season and Match of the Day pundit Ashley Williams believes he knows why.
The Gunners made light work of Crystal Palace on Saturday, thrashing them 5-0 at the Emirates.
Defender Gabriel played a big role in the first two goals with each coming from a corner.
He scored the first and grabbed an assist via an own goal for the second as he made his height and strength count.
And former Swansea centre-back Williams reckons he’s clocked on to the secret behind Arsenal’s set-piece success.
The Match of the Day pundits have noticed that Martin Odegaard makes signals with his socks
In his analysis of the game, Williams explained: ‘There’s always a trigger for what the movement’s going to be, and we can see they have worked on whether it’s a front-post corner or a back-post corner.
‘If you keep an eye on Odegaard, we feel – maybe we’ve had too much time on our hands – but we feel that maybe he’s signalling something to the corner taker.
‘He’s in the same place for every corner and he’s playing with his socks. The reason we’re looking for a trigger is because [these things] are worked on.
‘There is synchronicity regarded whether they go to the front or the back. Every clip we see here he is doing the same thing where he’s playing with his socks. It might be coincidence, yes.
‘This one’s interesting because it’s actually a front-post and he does a different thing with his socks, so I understand we might be reaching for something that isn’t there, but it is a big coincidence that he’s always there and always doing something with his sock.
‘I think [Arsenal set-piece coach] Nicolas Jover has said ‘We have signals on what set-piece we’re doing’
