Forget Set Piece FC, Arsenal have just been given a new nickname
Arsenal have had a perfect start to the new season.
The Gunners have won every single game they have played so far, and they look on track to defend their title for the first time in nearly 100 years.
To many rivals’ surprise, every single one of the 12 goals they have scored in all competitions has come from open play.
That puts the ‘Set Piece FC’ tag in the bin, and Arsenal have been given a different name now.
Tony Cascarino gives Arsenal a new nickname
The narrative that Arsenal are just a set-piece team is the laziest analysis we’ve ever seen.
The Gunners were better than everyone else at set plays, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t absolutely world-class in almost every other department.
Yet, that is how some pundits and rival fans portrayed Arsenal, and many people fell for that.
This season, nobody can accuse Arsenal of being Set Piece FC anymore, because the champions have been incredible from open play.
So, with that nickname gone, Tony Cascarino has given them a new one: The Anaconda Team.
He said on talkSPORT: “I call them the Anaconda Team because they literally suffocate you and strangle you.”
That’s a much better nickname than Set Piece FC, and we’re sure Mikel Arteta will like that one because his men really do suffocate the opposition every single game.
Cascarino backs Arsenal to break Chelsea’s Premier League record
At the same stage last season, many people felt Arsenal could break Chelsea’s record of the fewest goals conceded in a Premier League season.
That record stands at 15 goals conceded in 38 games in the 2004/05 season, which was an outrageous achievement.
Arsenal failed to do that last season and ended up conceding 27 goals in the Premier League. Cascarino, however, believes they could break it this term.
He said: “In every department, they are brilliant. They are the team, for me, who could beat Chelsea’s goals-against column.
“What Chelsea achieved a number of years ago I thought would never get beaten. This Arsenal team, whether it’s this one this season or even further down the line, they are going to concede so few goals.
“I was looking at their numbers last night, and last year, they conceded two against Man City and it was like mid-April and never conceded two after that.
“They only conceded three once, and that was against Manchester United. If you remember that game at the Emirates, two of them were wonder goals. You have to get wonder goals against Arsenal because they just don’t give you anything.”