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SET pieces were crucial AGAIN but Arsenal lost more ground in the title race after coming back from behind to draw 1-1 with Fulham. The Gunners thought they’d won it at the death but are now SIX points behind Prem leaders Liverpool, after enduring a frustrating afternoon at Craven Cottage.Other corner, another goal as William Saliba equalised early into the second halfFulham went 1-0 up early after latching onto a loose ball with a quick counterArsenal dominated the early exchanged but saw themselves 1-0 down early thanks to Raul Jimenez’s spell-bounding run and finish inside 11 minutes.The visitors had plenty of the possession, but very little to show for it in the opening 45 minutes.Mikel Arteta was booed at half-time, but unlike last year’s defeat at Craven Cottage he held off on any substitutions at the break.Another successful corner routine saw the Gunners level after William Saliba poked home from six-yards five minutes after half-time.READ MORE ON ARSENALAnd heartbreak ensued in the 89th minute when Bukayo Saka’s back post header was ruled out after Martinelli strayed offside in the build up.Here SunSport’s Katherine Walsh gives her player ratings…David Raya – 6 Couldn’t do much about his one-on-one with Jimenez and was rarely threatened after that.Until a HUGE save at his near post in the 71st minute after Sander Berge’s ball over the top sent Andreas Pereira away.Most read in FootballDavid Raya was left vulnerable for Jimenez’ openerThomas Partey – 5Arteta opted to play Partey at right-back but, it quickly became clear just how missed the Ghanaian’s presence was in midfield.William Saliba – 6 Great positioning and a lengthy VAR check saw him tap in the equaliser from a back-post Havertz’s header. Yes, from another corner.Couldn’t get back in time to stop Jimenez’s opener. Could he have done more?Jakub Kiwior – 4 Terrible afternoon filling into Gabriel’s big shoes. Easily outmanoeuvred by Raul Jimenez’s inside run for the Fulham No.9’s sleek low finish opener inside 11 minutes.Seemed out of place and not sure of his role during corner routines.Raul Jimenez rang a ring around Kiwior for Fulham’s early openerJurrien Timber – 5 Undoubtedly a greater influence on the right side of defence.Timber was quiet by his standard and was dragged narrow for Jimenez’s opener.Martin Odegaard (c) -Looked like he was struggling with something in the first half-an-hour as he hunched over, and hobbled off while walking inside at half-time after being on the end of a big tackle from Sander Berge.Some harmless balls into the Fulham box went well past Trossard as Arsenal looked somewhat rattled after going 1-0 down.Replaced by 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri when Arsenal were looking for a winner.Jorginho – 6 Largely did his job in nullifying Emile Smith Rowe before the Arsenal youth academy star was replaced inside 60 minutes.But some wayward long balls saw a frustrated Arteta turn away in the opening half.Declan Rice – 6 Some lovely runs between the centre-backs in his bid to push forward to level the score. Didn’t stop running and linked up well with Saka and Odegaard.But had to bail out the makeshift left hand side of Timber and Kiwior out a couple of times and lethal from corners.Bukayo Saka – 7Every time you look at the TV, Saka was crossing. Great corners from the right hand side.Grew into the game with both Robinson and Bassey working hard to team up on him, soon sat them both down with an outrageous run.Such a menace from the right but Robinson finally went in the book in the final five minutes.Kai Havertz – 6Out-duelled by Diop for much of the first half and rarely tested former Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno in his 73 minute appearance.Poor sense of positioning at times to get onto some good crosses from his Saka and Trossard.But made up for it in the second half, with a brilliant back post run from Rice’s corner which inadvertently set up Saliba.Kai Havertz failed to threaten Fulham keeper LenoHavertz headed down into the path of goalscorer SalibaLeandro Trossard – 6 An unbelievable piece of skill saw him bamboozle former Gunner Iwobi but his stunning cross was fumbled by Saka.More of a threat in the second-half before he looked disappointed to be subbed off for Gabriel Martinelli. SubsG Jesus (’73 for Havertz) – 4 Indecisive as Rice pinged a ball over the top for his run, which eventually landed in Leno’s waiting hands.Gabriel Martinelli (’60 for Trossard) – 6Disastrously aught offside in the lead up to Saka’s would-be winner in the 89th minute.But worked better with Timber than Trossard perhaps managed. Tricky feet saw him fouled several times by Kenny Tete in final 15 minutes.Sent multiple great crosses from the left, but Leno was often up to collect.Booked for dissent as he bounced the ball in frustration at not being awarded a throw in. READ MORE SUN STORIESMikel Merino (’73 for Jorginho) – 5Should’ve been booked for a tug on Pereira. E Nwaneri (’78 for Odegaard) – 6 Brave runs in his 15 minute cameo. Arteta clearly trusts the teenager. More

CALL them Stoke 2.0 all you like but Mikel Arteta’s set-pieces feel unstoppable right now with specialist coach Nicolas Jover pulling the strings.With a staggering 30 goals from set-plays since the start of last season and more than a fifth of their goals this year coming from corners, they could be key to Arsenal winning the title.Arsenal are becoming the kings of corner kicksCredit: RexHere, our tactical expert Dean Scoggins — from SunSport YouTube show Tactics Exposed — dissects why the Gunners are so dangerous from corners and the secrets behind their success…1) THREE Ts — TRIGGER, TIMING AND TRAJECTORYTHE precision is incredible. There’s the hand up from Declan Rice or Bukayo Saka to begin the routine.From there, a two-second pause gives the ‘train’ lined up at the back post time to run into position.Then it’s about the trajectory of the ball. Rice favours it flatter to the front post, whereas Saka hits it higher and more to the back and middle.READ MORE IN football Declan Rice only has two seconds to put his hand up to signal deliveryThe trajectory of the cross is key for Arsenal2) THE JIGSAW PUZZLEALL the pieces have to come together for Arsenal — and everyone in the area has a role.The players beyond the back post make their moves to the front post — and they mix it up to confuse defenders.But they slot into gaps between the defenders, one in between each line… to complete the jigsaw. This means that, if the man at the front post is beaten, Arsenal have a ‘jumper’ before every other defender — making it virtually impossible for the opposition to see or stop. Most read in FootballJurrien Timber’s goal against Manchester United came from this exact move.Arsenal slot into the gaps perfectly3) CHAOS CREATORTHE Gunners have a free man at every corner.United tried to create a ‘forcefield’ around the keeper to stop Arsenal’s trick of blocking him.The new chaos creator ran across the eyeline of the keeper, making him think twice about coming off his line.Often, one player runs to the front post first to nudge the first defender under the ball — freeing up the ‘jigsaw jumpers’ to score.Kai Havertz is the ‘chaos creator’4) HOW DO YOU STOP IT?IT is very difficult. United had a good plan, two players at the front post to stop one of them being muscled out by a blocker.However, the players didn’t do their job. Bruno Fernandes got sucked under the ball and Rasmus Hojlund was too far outside of the line of the post, so both of them were redundant.I’d like to see a centre-back — or dominant centre-forward — occupy the front post and not leave the zone!My advice for defenders — start on the post, literally touching it, and attack the ball. Don’t wait for it.Man Utd had two men on the front post5) PLAYING FOR CORNERS!ONE way to stop it, of course, is to not concede corners. Back in the era of Rory Delap’s long throws at Stoke, we saw Hull keeper Boaz Myhill kick the ball out for a corner rather than face a hurl into the box.But Arsenal create lots of opportunities to win corners. READ MORE SUN STORIESOne, slightly risky, tactic — would be to allow crosses from wide, backing centre-backs and goalkeepers to deal with those better.Just don’t ‘do a Rashford’ and concede unnecessary corners which inevitably mean goals!Marcus Rashford gave away a corner trying to flick the ball up to boot awayCredit: Sky SportsThe mistake resulted in the corner that Arsenal scored fromCredit: Sky Sports More