Jason Cundy lays out bold tactic Chelsea must use to nullify Arsenal’s set-piece ‘chaos’

Chelsea must redeploy their previous defensive tactic at set pieces to counter Arsenal and their chaotic presence in attack.

It’s a game plan that Jason Cundy called upon Blues head coach Liam Rosenior to implement on the latest episode of Inside Chelsea.

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On Sunday, Chelsea will take on an Arsenal side who are not only the Premier League leaders, but scoffed at for some controversial antics.

Crowding the box when both attacking and defending set pieces has helped deliver huge success for the north Londoners.

Arsenal are the highest scorers from corners in the league this season on 14, which has led to them being labelled ‘Set Piece FC’.

Despite Arsenal’s somewhat constricting physicality, Chelsea appeared to find a way to nullify it in their Carabao Cup semi-final.

When the Gunners had a corner, Rosenior chose to leave three of his players further up the pitch in apparent preparation for a counter.

It meant that some Arsenal players needed to retreat from attacking positions to cover, and Cundy wants to see this again this weekend.

He said: “We know what Arsenal are going to do. What was interesting, actually, is we saw [Enzo] Maresca do it, and also Liam, is clear the box, and he left three up.

“I expect him to do the same, I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t because Arsenal prey on chaos, they prey on bodies in the box and they’re very good at it.

“As a defensive side, the chaos doesn’t help you. The ball can bounce, it can drop, it can come off a shoulder, come off an arm, and then it can go in the back of the net.

“I expect them to leave three up top, and we’ve seen, actually, it’s very, very well-worked.

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“What they’ve got to do, they should leave four back, they sometimes leave only three.

“I feel that we can really capitalise on that, so I expect that to… let [Robert] Sanchez see the ball because when he’s got bodies around him, he can’t come and claim it.”

Chelsea’s recent record against Arsenal

It’s been around four-and-a-half years since Chelsea last won against their London rivals.

Goals from Romelu Lukaku and Reece James earned them a 2-0 away victory in August 2021.

But since then, Chelsea have gone winless in their last ten meetings.

Arsenal have been victorious on seven occasions, two of which came in the Carabao Cup earlier in the year.

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Chelsea impressed at home in the league in November during a 1-1 draw that saw them go down to ten men after 38 minutes.

However, their next task will be a lot tougher, especially when Arsenal are really looking to cement their title challenge before the run-in.

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